Surat (109), a city of India, Bombay Presidency, on the Tapti, 14 m.
from its entrance into the Gulf of Bombay; stretches along the S. bank of
the river, presenting no architectural features of interest save some
Mohammedan, Parsee, and Hindu temples, and an old castle or fortress;
chief exports are cotton and grain; the English erected here their first
factory on the Indian continent in 1612, and with Portuguese and Dutch
traders added, it became one of the principal commercial centres of
India; in the 18th century
the removal of the English East India Company
to Bombay drew off a considerable portion of the trade of Surat, which it
has never recovered.