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[[File:Agrees, or Salt Cultivators of Salsette (9842277595).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Agri (caste)|Agri]] people of Salsette ({{circa|1855}})]]
The word ''Sasashti'' (also shortened to ''Sashti'') is Marathi for "sixty-six
109 [[Buddhist]] caves, including those at Kanheri, can be found on the island, and date from the end of the 2nd century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alexander Kyd Nairne|title=History of the Konkan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzPCcILP-XwC&pg=PA9|year=1894|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0275-5|page=9}}</ref> Salsette was ruled by a succession of Hindu kingdoms, the last of which were the [[Silhara dynasty|Silharas]] and later the [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]]s. In 1343, the islands were annexed by the [[Sultan of Guzerat]]. In 1534, the [[Portuguese empire]] seized the islands from Sultan [[Bahadur Shah of Gujarat|Bahadur Shah]]. Sashti became part of the northern province of [[Portuguese India]], which was governed from [[Vasai (Bassein)]] on the north shore of Bassein Creek. It was leased to the explorer [[Diogo Rodrigues]] from 25 October, 1535 to 1548. In 1554, the islands were handed over to [[Garcia de Orta]], a renowned physician and botanist and the author of ''Colloquies on the Simples Drugs and Medical Matter of India'', a seminal work on Indian [[Eastern medicine]] of its time.
On the island of Mazagaon, the Jesuits had set up base claiming the land. The Portuguese king refused to entertain their claim and in 1572 permanently leased the island to the de Souza e de Lima family. By now, there was a large Roman Catholic population. The Portuguese also brought with them African slaves known as "Kaffirs"{{dubious|date=October 2021}}, who soon entered the ethnic mix of the people. The [[Portuguese East Indies]] had their capital in [[Old Goa]], which lay south of the Bombay islands in India. Goa was then known as the "Rome of the East" due to its prominence, the islands were never important to the Portuguese.{{cn|date=February 2022}} Nine churches were built on Salsette island by the Portuguese; Nirmal (1557), Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (1557), Sandor (1566), Agashi (1568), Nandakal (1573), Papdy (1574), Pale (1595), Manickpur (1606),
In 1661, the seven Bombay (Mumbai) islets were ceded to [[United Kingdom|Britain]] as part of the [[dowry of Catherine Braganza]] to [[Charles II of England]] while Salsette remained in Portuguese hands. Charles II in turn, leased the Bombay islets to the [[English East India Company]] in 1668 for £10 per year. The company found the deep harbour at [[Mumbai (Bombay)]] eminently apposite, and the population rose from 10,000 in 1661 to 60,000 by 1675. In 1687, the East India Company transferred their headquarters there from [[Surat]]. In 1737 the island was captured by the [[Maratha]]s, all of the Portuguese northern province of Konkan except [[Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu|Daman, Diu and Silvassa]], was frequently invaded by the Maratha navy and army in 1739, [[Marquis de Pombal]] formally ceded [[Greater Bombay]] to the [[Peshva]] ruler of the [[Maratha Empire]] in the 1750s.
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