The agency was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 before once more reverting to its previous status in 1655.

In 1639, the English East India Company purchased the village of Madraspatnam and one year later it established the Agency of Fort St George, precursor of the Madras Presidency, although there had been Company factories at Machilipatnam and Armagon since the very early 1600s. Some parts of the presidency were also flanked by Bombay Presidency ( Konkan) and Central Provinces and Berar ( Madhya Pradesh). Madras Presidency was neighboured by the Kingdom of Mysore on the northwest, Kingdom of Cochin on the southwest, and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the north. The coastal regions and northern part of Island of Ceylon at that time was a part of Madras Presidency from 1793 to 1798 when it was created a Crown colony. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the Presidency and Ootacamund or Ooty, the summer capital.

At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha and the union territory of Lakshadweep. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St.

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