merchants who would enter through the west coast of India. The Greek merchant Cosma Indicopleustes is known to have visited the areas around Vasai in the 6th century and the Chinese traveller Xuanzang later on June or July 640. According to historian José Gerson da Cunha, during this time, Bassein and its surrounding areas appeared to have been ruled by the Chalukya dynasty of Karnataka. Until the 11th century, several Arabian geographers had mentioned references to towns nearby Vasai, like Thana and Sopara, but no references had been made to Vasai. Vasai was later ruled by the Silhara dynasty of Konkan and eventually passed to the Seuna dynasty. It was head of district under the Seuna (1184–1318). Later being conquered by the Gujarat Sultanate, where it was named Basai, a few years later Barbosa (1514) described it under the name Baxay (pronounced Basai) as a town with a good seaport belonging to the King of Gujarat. In 1295, Italian explorer Marco Polo passed through Vasai. Portuguese era The Portuguese first reached the west coast of India when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498. According to historian Manuel de Faria e Sousa, the coast of Basai 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 Bombay, with 24 citizens of the Gujarat Sultanate aboard. To the Portuguese, Basai was an important trading centre located on the Arabian Sea. They saw it as a vital service station that would give them access to global sea routes and goods such as salt, fish, timber and mineral resources. They wanted to build a shipyard to manufacture ships and use the fertile land to grow rice, sugarcane, cotton, betel nuts and other crops to trade globally. The presence of the Portuguese significantly shaped the region into what it is today. Treaty of Vasai (Bassein) (1534) In 1530 the Portuguese, under António da Silveira, took advantage of its strong navy and pillaged and burnt the village of Vasai (Basai). The army of Gujarat Sultanate was not strong enough for the Portuguese forces and, despite resistance, the Sultan of Gujarat was eventually defeated. In 1531 António set fire to Basai yet again as punishment for the Sultan for not ceding Diu, a vital island that would protect trade in the region. In 1533, Diogo (Heitor) da