"...In Bengal the British, who had been trading there since 1650s, settled for Calcutta as their base around 1690. Here a collection of bungalows which looked like ‘thatched hovels’, a stables, a hospital, a barracks, and a powder magazine could all be found huddled next to the imposing Fort William. The three as yet unpromising settlements of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, were eventually to become the power centers of British rule in India."