Norteiros were a historical people who lived in the former Portuguese exclaves in the western littoral parts of the northern Konkan region, in the present-day Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area and the union territory of Damaon, Diu& Silvassa. Norteiro means "northerner" in the European Portuguese language and its Indo-Portuguese creoles; the term referred to the people inhabiting the territory of the Northern Province (Província do Norte), centred in and around the present-day Bassein (Vasai), headquartered at Fort San Sebastian of Bassein which was styled "the Court of the North" (A Corte do Norte). It included the Bombay harbour and stood second only to the capital (metropole) of Velha Goa in south Konkan, among Portuguese East Indies colonies in Portuguese India. Norteiro has largely fallen into disuse, the descendants are the Luso-Indians as in the case of the Damanese of Damaon territory and the Korlaite Christians of Chaul, the natives identify as the Bombay East Indians, i.e. those Christians who inhabit Bassein (Vasai), Old Bombay, New Bombay& other locales in Greater Bombay. The latter are still known as Nodtheir (male), Nodtheirni (female)& Nodtheira (plural) in the Konkani language. Culture Except for Dio district, which lies in the historical "Sorath" or Saurashtra (region), the remaining settlements were all within the north Konkan region, partitioned between the union territory of Damaon, Diu& Silvassa and Maharashtra state. They were populated predominantly by native Konkani people. Basseinites spoke a distinct Norteiro creole of Indo-Portuguese, it was described in detail and compared with other varieties by Rodolf Dalgado. History Capture of Bassein During the period of Peshva rule of the Maratha Empire, territory of Portuguese Bombay was invaded when the Portuguese refused to pay the "trading permit tax" to stop Maratha attacks and naval raids. Under the Peshva, Marathas seized most of the headquartered at Fort Bassein. A brother to the Peshva , Chimaji Appa ordered the destruction and vandalism of nearly all Christian places, the Basilica of Mount Bandra (Bombay) was the only structure spared and many Norteiros switched loyalties, they also switched to speaking Marathi in Konkan. When the English East India Company later took over the seven islands of Bombay from the Portuguese capital at Velha Goa, and Bassein (Vasai) and from the Maratha, they called the Norteiros "Bombay Portuguese". British era After the involvement of England in Goan affairs as a result of the French Revolutionary Wars & the Napoleonic Wars, England occupied