EAST INDIA COMPANY FACTORY RECORDS
Sources from the British Library, London

Part 3: Fort St George (Madras)

In the 1620s the East India Company extended its activities on the Coromandel coast, then based at Masulipatam, further to the south. In 1626 a settlement was established at Armagon, but this site had practical difficulties. When the ruler of the district around Madraspatam invited the Company to establish a factory there, the Company was eager to accept and the factors of Armagon moved to the new base of operations in 1640. The factory was named Fort St George and rapidly grew in importance as a centre for EIC trading activity in the east. In 1682 it officially replaced Bantam as the headquarters of the eastern trade.

Part 3 covers important early material on East India Company activities in India with a complete sequence of the following Fort St George records:

• Consultations, 1655-1704.
• Letters despatched, 1661-1704.

Further material on Fort St George will be made available in Part 4.