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British Capture of Thana

VictorEast India Company (Bombay)General Robert Gordon
1774vs
Peshwa’s garrisonThe Maratha killedar of Thana

With the Peshwa’s court split after the murder of Narayanrao, the Bombay government seized Salsette, the island next to Bombay that Chimaji Appa had won from the Portuguese in 1739.

Date: December 1774Where: Thane fort, Salsette island, MaharashtraType: Siege
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
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Cite

MLA

“British Capture of Thana.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/capture-of-thana-1774/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). British Capture of Thana. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/capture-of-thana-1774/

Result

Thana fort was stormed after a short siege, and Salsette island passed to the Company, which kept it under the Treaty of Purandar (1776) and the Treaty of Salbai (1782).

01Bombay wants Salsette

Bombay’s islands were small and depended on Salsette for food and fresh water. The Company had long wanted it, and in 1774 it heard that a Portuguese fleet was coming to win it back from the Marathas. Pune was in turmoil after Narayanrao’s murder in 1773, with Raghunathrao fighting the Barbhai council led by Nana Phadnavis. The Bombay council decided to move first.

02The storm of Thana

General Robert Gordon crossed to Salsette in December 1774 and opened batteries against Thana, the fort guarding the creek. The Maratha garrison refused to surrender and fought on the walls, but on 28 December the fort was carried by storm. Salsette and the nearby islands passed to Bombay. Within months the Company signed the Treaty of Surat with Raghunathrao, and the First Anglo-Maratha War began.

The Peshwas of Pune
Dynasty · 1713–1818 CEThe Peshwas of PuneThe Peshwas were the hereditary chief ministers of the Chhatrapatis, and from 1713 to 1818 they ran the Maratha state from Pune. Under Bajirao I and his son Nanasaheb the Marathas became the strongest power in India, until Panipat in 1761 and the British wars that ended the line in 1818.Read →
Why it matters

Salsette was the Company’s one lasting gain from the First Anglo-Maratha War, and it let Bombay grow beyond its seven islands.

People 1

Nana PhadnavisRuler
12 Feb 1742 – 13 Mar 1800

Nana Phadnavis

Minister who held the Peshwa state together

Places near the battlefield 8

Ambreshwar Shiva Temple, AmbernathStanding
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Ambreshwar Shiva Temple, Ambernath

A dated Shilahara temple of 1060 on the edge of Mumbai, its walls crowded with carving and its sanctum sunk below ground level. Its own inscription names the king and the year.

Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, PrabhadeviRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, Prabhadevi

Mumbai’s best-loved Ganesh temple, founded in 1801 by a childless woman who asked that Ganapati grant children to other barren women. The small black-stone murti draws lakhs of devotees on Tuesdays and on Angarki Chaturthi.

Elephanta Caves (Gharapuri)Ruined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Elephanta Caves (Gharapuri)

A Shaiva cave temple on Gharapuri island in Mumbai harbour, with the three-faced Sadashiva, about 6 m high, at its centre. The Portuguese named the island for a stone elephant; the damage to its panels dates from their time.

Mahalakshmi Temple, MumbaiStanding
Company rule and the war of 1857

Mahalakshmi Temple, Mumbai

The temple of the three Devis of the Devi Mahatmya on a rock above the Arabian Sea at Breach Candy. Its katha is tied to the building of the Hornby Vellard, the causeway that joined Bombay’s islands.

Mumba Devi Temple, BhuleshwarRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Mumba Devi Temple, Bhuleshwar

The Devi of the Koli fishermen, from whose name Mumbai takes its own. Her shrine stood near Bori Bunder until the 18th century, when it was rebuilt at Bhuleshwar beside a tank.

Babulnath Temple, MumbaiStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Babulnath Temple, Mumbai

A Shiva temple on the hillock above Girgaum Chowpatty, named for the babul tree under which the linga was found. Its tall spire was once among the highest points of the city.

Vajreshwari Yogini Devi TempleStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Vajreshwari Yogini Devi Temple

The Maratha general Chimaji Appa vowed a temple to Vajreshwari if he took Vasai fort from the Portuguese. He took it in 1739 and built this one, walled like a small fort, on a hill near the hot springs of the Tansa valley.

Walkeshwar Temple and Banganga TankRebuilt
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Walkeshwar Temple and Banganga Tank

On the tip of Malabar Hill, a Shiva temple and a stepped tank tied to Shri Rama’s halt on the way to Lanka. Destroyed in the Portuguese period and rebuilt in 1715, it is the oldest continuously sacred spot in south Mumbai.