KOLABA district is in the Konkan division of the Bombay Presidency, lying between lat. 17' 52' and 18° 50' N., and long. 73° 7' and 73° 42' E. Area, 1482 square miles. The Sahyadri range forms its eastern boundary, and has two re markable peaks, —Raigarh in the Mahad sub division, where Sivaji built his capital ; and Miradongar, a station of the Trigonometrical Survey. Kolaba district lies immediately south of Bombay, and the north-west part touches the sea. The administrative centre, Alibag, situated in this portion of the territory, was the stronghold of the pirate Angria, who long held the coast in terror, and who founded a piratical dynasty. Kolaba Island formed a shelter for the pirate fleets. It is situated just outside Alibag harbour, and was fortified by Sivaji in 1662. In 1772 it was still an important place, where the chief lived in much splendour, and a combined expedition of British ships and Portuguese troops made an unsuccessful attack upon it. The rise of the
Indian navy during the second half of the 18th century put an end to piracy on an organized end successful scale in Bombay waters. Under the Angrias, slavery was in force, and included terrible penalties on women, who, for certain offences, became the property of the chief. In 1840 the male line of the Angrias died out, and the application for leave to adopt an heir being refused, the state of Kolaba lapsed. Janjira is a native state. Janjira is, properly speaking, only an island at the entrance of a bay half-way between the rivers Savitri and Rohe ; but the name has been applied to the whole of the little principality on the coast west of that part of Kolaba which does not touch the sea. In the time of the Arab and early African traders, Jan jira was a place of importance, and the descend ants of these races, such as Abyssinians and the Beni-Israel, are still to be found there.— Imp.
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