<P> In 1661 Portugal was at war with Spain and needed assistance from England . This led to the marriage of Princess Catherine of Portugal to Charles II of England, who imposed a dowry that included the insular and less inhabited areas of southern Bombay while the Portuguese managed to retain all the mainland territory north of Bandra up to Thana and Bassein . This was the beginning of the English presence in India . </P> <P> The Dutch East India Company established trading posts on different parts along the Indian coast . For some while, they controlled the Malabar southwest coast (Pallipuram, Cochin, Cochin de Baixo / Santa Cruz, Quilon (Coylan), Cannanore, Kundapura, Kayamkulam, Ponnani) and the Coromandel southeastern coast (Golkonda, Bhimunipatnam, Kakinada, Palikol, Pulicat, Parangippettai, Negapatnam) and Surat (1616--1795). They conquered Ceylon from the Portuguese . The Dutch also established trading stations in Travancore and coastal Tamil Nadu as well as at Rajshahi in present - day Bangladesh, Pipely, Hugli - Chinsura, and Murshidabad in present - day West Bengal, Balasore (Baleshwar or Bellasoor) in Odisha, and Ava, Arakan, and Syriam in present - day Myanmar (Burma). Ceylon was lost at the Congress of Vienna in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, where the Dutch having fallen subject to France, saw their colonies raided by Britain . The Dutch later became less involved in India, as they had the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as their prized possession . </P> <P> At the end of the 16th century, England and the United Netherlands began to challenge Portugal's monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint - stock companies to finance the voyages: the English (later British) East India Company, and the Dutch East India Company, which were chartered in 1600 and 1602 respectively . These companies were intended to carry on the lucrative spice trade, and they focused their efforts on the areas of production, the Indonesian archipelago and especially the "Spice Islands", and on India as an important market for the trade . The close proximity of London and Amsterdam across the North Sea, and the intense rivalry between England and the Netherlands, inevitably led to conflict between the two companies, with the Dutch gaining the upper hand in the Moluccas (previously a Portuguese stronghold) after the withdrawal of the English in 1622, but with the English enjoying more success in India, at Surat, after the establishment of a factory in 1613 . </P> <P> The Netherlands' more advanced financial system and the three Anglo - Dutch Wars of the 17th century left the Dutch as the dominant naval and trading power in Asia . Hostilities ceased after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when the Dutch prince William of Orange ascended the English throne, bringing peace between the Netherlands and England . A deal between the two nations left the more valuable spice trade of the Indonesian archipelago to the Netherlands and the textiles industry of India to England, but textiles overtook spices in terms of profitability, so that by 1720, in terms of sales, the English company had overtaken the Dutch . The English East India Company shifted its focus from Surat--a hub of the spice trade network--to Fort St. George . </P>

Explain the major features of the cities of colonial india