The Portuguese name for Vasai was Baçaim (Bassein), the Bassein region ruled by Portuguese in not just Bassein but included areas far away as Bombay, Thane, Kalyan and Chaul (Revdanda). It is located about 50 Kilometers North of Bombay, on the Arabian Sea, at approximately (19°20'N - 72°49'E). Vasai, as it is called today, was important trading center, it's sources of wealth and trade were horses, fish, salt, timber, stone quarry (basalt and granite) and shipbuilding. It was a significant trading center long before the Portuguese arrived. (Ancient Sopara was a important port in trade with the Arabs and Greeks, Romans and Persians.). It was also a wealthy agricultural region with rice, betel, cotton, and sugar-cane as some of the crops.