Treaty of Surat
- When
- 1775
- Where
- Surat
- Episodes
- 1
On 6 March 1775, Raghunathrao signed the Treaty of Surat with the British East India Company, ceding Salsette and Bassein Fort in exchange for military support to restore him as Peshwa. This agreement triggered the First Anglo-Maratha War and was later annulled by Warren Hastings.
Episodes
Background and detail
Political Context. Following the death of Madhavrao Peshwa in 1772 and the subsequent murder of his brother Narayanrao in 1773, Raghunathrao claimed the Peshwa title. Unwilling to relinquish power, he sought British assistance at Bombay to secure his position against rival claimants.
Treaty Provisions. The treaty stipulated that Raghunathrao would cede the territories of Salsette and Bassein Fort to the British. In return, the East India Company agreed to provide military assistance to restore him to the Peshwa throne in Poona, effectively backing his claim over the Maratha leadership.
Immediate Aftermath. The signing of the treaty initiated the First Anglo-Maratha War. British troops under Colonel Keating departed Surat for Pune in March 1775. However, Governor-General Warren Hastings later annulled the agreement, arguing the Bombay Government lacked the authority to sign such a pact, and negotiated the Treaty of Purandhar instead.
People involved
- Raghunathrao · Claimant to the Peshwa throne
- British East India Company · Treaty signatory and military supporter
- Warren Hastings · Governor-General who later annulled the treaty
Sources
- Treaty of Surat Wikipedia, revision of 2025-05-04
- First Anglo-Maratha War Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.