Early History
Baçaim or Bassein or Vasai is about 30 miles north of Bombay. The Portuguese ruled this place for about 205 years (1534-1739 A.D). In 1498 A.D Vasco da Gama arrived at the harbour of Calicut (Kozhikode) on the western coast of India. It was after this incident that the Portuguese established their power on the western coast of India. During that time the very ambitious, John III of Portugal had ascended the throne of Portugal. He appointed Nuno da Cunha as the governor of Goa in order to conquer the island of Diu from the sultan of Gujarat. Under his leadership, the Portuguese started the utmost endeavours to conquer the island of Diu. In the desire the Portuguese tried to siege Bassein, because they believed that conquering Bassein would provide them a supplement and a strategic momentum to acquire Diu, but they never realized that one day this town of Bassein itself will become the pride of Portuguese empire outside Portugal and it will have much more importance then that of Diu, Goa or any such Portuguese colonies of that era. During this period Governor Nuno da Cunha learn that the Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat had sent his forces to built a small fort in Bassein. Governor Nuno da Cunha soon realized that if the Sultan built the fort in Bassein, their desire to conquer Diu would soon be vanished. Ultimately Governor Nuno da Cunha decided to conquer Bassein, after consulting the council of Fidalgos (noblemen) in Goa. Portuguese Fidalgos and thousands of naval soldiers sailed in the direction of Bassein on 150 ships. A furious battle took place between the Portuguese forces and those of the Sultan of Gujarat on 20th January 1533, which was won by the Portuguese on the very day itself and the day was the feast day of Saint Sebastian. But the fort came into the actual control of Portuguese on 23rd December, 1534 when Bahadurshah signed a treaty with the Portuguese to hand over the complete authority of Bassein. Following the event, Captain Garcia de Sa was appointed to built the Bassein fort, the work began on 20th January 1536.
A number of rich Portuguese Fidalgos living in the different towns were attracted towards Bassein’s natural beauty of pleasant climate and abundance of wealth. They came to Bassein and built castle-like palaces in the vicinity of the fortress, because of these change the area got the feature of some European city. The Portuguese king issued a special order and gave this city the status of ‘Evora’ i.e. City of Portugal. The Portuguese called this city as “Dom Baçaim (Bassein)” considering the numerous “Dom (a Portuguese title for Sir)” people residing in the city of Bassein. The prosperity of Bassein increased abundantly that it was considered the richest cities among the Portuguese colonies in the world at that time. The domination of Portuguese in this part increased and the city became the capital of the Portuguese Province of the North of India, Goa being the capital of Portuguese Province of South. And in such glorious Dom Baçaim (Bassein) the great son of Bassein was born……………St. Gonsalo Garcia.
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