town of British India, capital of a collectorate of the same name, in the presidency of Bombay, on the left bank of the Taptee, 150 miles N. of Bombay, and 130 S. of Ahmedabad. Its form is semicircular, and its circuit is about six miles. It is defended by a small castle on the shore of the river, and by a wall with bastions and battlements. The town is not very prepossessing in its appearance, having narrow, crooked streets, lined with lofty houses, which have frames of timber filled in with brick. Besides the castle, the chief buildings in the town are the Protestant Church, Mosque, Mahometan College, and two Parsee fire-temples. The English cemetery contains many tombs of former governors of Surat, and others; there are also a Dutch cemetery of considerable interest, and a dakhma, or Parsee burial-place. The palace of the Nawab of Surat is a plain, unattractive building, remarkable for nothing but for a fine collection of Arabic and Persian MSS., which it contains. Surat has also some ruins of the abodes of the ancient nobility. Outside the walls is the site of the old French factory, now quite deserted; as also is the Dutch factory, which was once the best building about the town. The prosperity which Surat enjoyed in the latter part of last century,—when its bazaars were stored with all sorts of merchandise, and crowded with men of all nations; when its river was filled with shipping, and its streets with the bustle of life,—has quite passed away. Bombay has far outstripped its rival, and withdrawn from it all its foreign commerce; so that its only trade now consists in the exportation of cotton and grain to the less fertile regions of Concan. But, as it is the station of a large number of the British forces, and also of many of the civil officials, it is still a place of some importance, and contains a large proportion of British residents. The inundations of the Taptee have on several occasions been so great as to inflict much damage on the town, but since the last of these, in 1837, some steps have been taken to defend the town against them, and by the construction of a canal in connection with the river, the risk of their recurrence has been lessened. The first mention of Surat in history occurs in 1530, when it was taken and sacked by the Portuguese, but, as it was then a place of considerable size, it must have been in existence for some time previously. In 1612, permission was given to the English to establish a factory here, and the whole possessions of the East India Company were placed under the governor and council of Surat from 1567 to 1692, when the seat of government was transferred to Bombay, on account of its growing importance. In 1664, Surat was plundered by the Mahrattas under Sevajee, but the English factory was successfully defended against their attacks. During the first half of the eighteenth century, Surat was in a state of great confusion between various conflicting powers. At length, in 1759, the Bombay government, in order to put an end to the disorder, took possession of the castle, and in conjunction with the native Nawab exercised the government for forty years. On the death of the latter, in 1799, the British, at the request of the inhabitants, assumed the entire government, which they have since exercised. Pop. (1847) 95,000. The district of Surat has an area of 1629 square miles, and a population of 492,684.