Fort Vasai

Fort Vasai, known in English as Bassein Fort and formally named Fortaleza de São Sebastião by the Portuguese, is a ruined fort in Vasai, just north of Mumbai. Until 1739 it was the second most important Portuguese centre in India after Old Goa. It is now a Monument of National Importance protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, and Vasai Road railway station is the nearest stop.

The area has a long history before the Portuguese. The Greek merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes visited in the 6th century and Xuanzang in 640, and Vasai was ruled in turn by the Chalukyas, the Silharas and the Yadavas, under whom it headed a district, before the Gujarat Sultanate took it. In 1514 Duarte Barbosa described Baxay as a good seaport of the Gujarat king. The Portuguese arrived on this coast after Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498.