Vasai-Virar
History of Vasai
Vasai-Virar is a city in
Maharashtra state in western India. It
is located in Thane District, 50 km
north of Mumbai. The city is located on
the north bank of Vasai Creek, part of
the estuary of the Ulhas River. The city
is an agglomeration of several formerly
separate towns, including
Vasai,
Virar, and the ancient city of
Sopara. Vasai-Virar has three
stations, Vasai Road, Nala Sopara, and
Virar, on the Mumbai suburban railway's
Western Railway railway line.
The town of Sopara was center of the
Indian Ocean trade going in Roman times,
but its harbour has since silted up.
Trade shifted to Vasai, which traded in
horses, fish, salt, timber, and quarried
basalt and granite, and was a
shipbuilding center. Vasai came under
the control of the Sultans of Gujarat in
the 15th century. The Portuguese
attacked the city in 1528, and captured
it in 1532. The city, known to the
Portuguese as
Baçaim, became the
center of Portuguese India's Northern
Province, which included a string of
Portuguese settlements extending almost
100 km along the coast and in some
places 30-50 km inland. Other
settlements in the Northern Province
included Daman, Mahim, Thane, Kalyan,
Salsette, Bombaim (Bombay), and Chaul.
In the second half of 16th century the
Portuguese enclosed the town in a new
fortress wall with 10 bastions. The city
reached the height of its prosperity at
the end of the 17th century. During the
18th century, the city was eclipsed by
nearby Bombay, which had been ceded to
the British in 1661, and shortly
thereafter became the headquarters of
the British East India Company in India.
The Marathas captured Kalyan in 1720,
and in 1737 they captured Thane and
Salsette Island from the Portuguese. The
other Portuguese settlements in the
northern province were captured in
1738-39, and in February 1739, the
Maratha General Chimnaji Appa laid siege
to Baçaim, which capitulated on 16 May
1739.
The British captured Salsette and
Baçaim, which they called Bassein, from
the Marathas in 1774, at the start of
the First Anglo-Maratha War. The Treaty
of Bassein was concluded between the
Marathas and the British East India
Company on December 31, 1802, which left
the British in possession of Bassein.
The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) (present
Central Railway) and the Bombay, Baroda
and Central India Railway (BB&CI) (present
Western Railway) were built through
Vasai-Virar in 1860, and regular rail
service started in 1869. The first
electric locomotives first started
operating on the line in 1927. Three
stations on the Mumbai Suburban Railway
serve the town, Vasai Road, Nala Sopara,
and Virar. The region has seen a
building boom since the 1980's,
including the expansion of branch plants
and offices from Mumbai. The land
development boom has resulted in the
loss of much of the region's wetlands
and forest cover.
Chimnaji Appa
