Note 24 — Chapter III · MUGHAL VICEROYS. a.d. 1573–1758. (continued 2)

In this year (a.d. 1611) the English East India Company sent vessels to trade with Surat. The Portuguese made an armed resistance, but were defeated. The Mughal commander, who was not sorry to see the Portuguese beaten, gave the English a warm reception, and in a.d. 1612–13 a factory was opened in Surat by the English, and in a.d. 1614 a fleet was kept in the Tápti under Captain Downton to protect the factory. In a.d. 1615, Sir Thomas Roe came as ambassador to the emperor Jehángír, and obtained permission to establish factories, not only at Surat but also at Broach, Cambay and Gogha. The factory at Gogha seems to have been established in a.d. 1613. The emperor Jehángír notes in his memoirs (Persian Text, 105) that Mukarrab Khán, viceroy from a.d. 1616–1618, regardless of cost had bought from the English at Gogha a turkey, a lemur and other curiosities. On his return from Jehángír’s camp at Áhmedábád in January 1618 Roe obtained valuable concessions from the viceroy. The governor of Surat was to lend ships to the English, the resident English might carry arms, build a house, practise their religion, and settle their disputes. Kerr’s Voyages, IX. 253. The Dutch closely followed the English at Surat and were established there in a.d. 1618. ↑