The island did not prosper under Portuguese rule. By the system known as
_aforamento_ the lands were gradually parcelled out into a number of
fiefs granted, under the crown of Portugal, to individuals or to
religious corporations in return for military service or equivalent
quit-rents. The northern districts were divided among the Franciscans
and Jesuits, who built a number of churches, some of which still
survive. The intolerance of their rule did not favour the growth of the
settlement, which in 1661, when it was transferred to the British, had a
population of only 10,000. The English had, however, long recognized its
value as a naval base, and it was for this reason that they fought the
battle of Swally (1614-1615), attempted to capture the place in 1626,
and that the Surat Council urged the purchase of Bombay from the
Portuguese. In 1654 the directors of the Company drew Cromwell's
attention to this suggestion, laying stress on the excellence of its
harbour and its safety from attack by land. It finally became the
property of the British in 1661 as part of the dowry of the infanta
Catherine of Portugal on her marriage to Charles II., but was not
actually occupied by the British until 1665, when they experienced much
difficulty in overcoming the opposition of the Portuguese, and
especially of the religious orders, to the cession. In 1668 it was
transferred by the crown to the East India Company, who placed it under
the factory of Surat.

The real foundation of the modern city dates from this time, and was the
work of Gerald Aungier (or Angier), brother of Francis Aungier, 3rd Lord
Aungier of Longford and 1st earl of Longford in Ireland (d. 1700), who
succeeded Sir George Oxenden as president of Surat in 1669 and died in
1677. At this time Bombay was threatened by the Mahrattas from inland,
by the Malabar pirates and the Dutch from the sea, and was cut off from
the mainland by the Portuguese, who still occupied the island of
Salsette and had established a customs-barrier in the channel between
Bombay and the shore. In spite of the niggardly policy of the court of
directors, who refused to incur the expense of employing skilled
engineers, Aungier succeeded in fortifying the town and shore; he also
raised a force of militia and regulars, the latter mainly Germans (as
more trustworthy than the riffraff collected in London by the Company's
crimps). In 1672 Aungier transferred his headquarters to Bombay, and
after frighte