page_title: Fort Bassein
section_title: Portuguese Era
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Bassein / History / Portuguese Era
caption_attribution_description: English: Panaoramic view from inside one of the buildings at Vasai Fort.
context_page_description: Fort Bassein, also known as the Vasai Fort or Corte de Baçaim meaning "Court of Bassein" in Indo-Portuguese creole, वसई चा किल्ला in Maharashtrian Konkani, is a ruined fort in the town of Vasai in the Palghar district of Konkan division in Maharashtra, India. The name "Bassein" is the anglicised version of the Portuguese Baçaim, which is itself a derivation of an apparently native name that may have a connection to the tribal Vasa Konkani people of the North Konkan region, extending from Mumbai into "South Gujarat". Bassein's alternate official name is Vasai.
  The full form of the Portuguese name is "Fortaleza de São Sebastião de Baçaím" or the Fort of St. Sebastian of Vasai. The fort is a monument of national importance and is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
  The fort and the town are accessible via the Vasai Road railway station which itself is in Navghar-Manikpur, a part of the city of Vasai-Virar, and lies to the immediate north of the city of Mumbai and Mira Road in Bhayandar. The Vasai Road railway station is on the Western Railway line in the direction of the Virar railway station.
context_section_description: The Portuguese first reached the west coast of India when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498. For several years after their arrival in India, they had been consolidating their power in north Konkan. They had established a strong foothold in Goa, which they captured from the Sultan of Bijapur in 1510. According to historian Manuel de Faria e Sousa, the coast of Vasai was first visited by the Portuguese in 1509, when Francisco de Almeida on his way to Diu captured a Muslim ship in the harbour of Mumbai, with 24 citizens of Gujarat aboard.
caption: Panoramic view from inside one of the buildings
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