João III (1502–1557) King of Portugal had ascended the throne of Portugal. He appointed Nuno da Cunha the Governor of Goa in order to conquer the island of Diu from the Sultan of Gujarat Bahadurshah. Under Nuno da Cunha leadership, the Portuguese started their endeavours to conquer the island of Diu. Portuguese Navy Ships under Nuno da Cunha kept attacking the important posts of Sultan of Gujarat on the western Coast of Maharashtra-Gujarat. For the Portuguese, Diu was an important island to protect their trade, which they had to capture.


In 1532, Sultan of Gujarat Bahadurshah had send his commander, Malik Tughan, to Baçaim (Vasai) ordering him to build a small fortress on the Baçaim (Vasai) coast for defence if Portuguese attack Diu. Governor Nuno da Cunha realise that if Bahadurshah had built the fortress, the dream of conquering the island of Diu would have been incomplete. Nuno da Cunha was in the vicinity of Diu. He came to know that Malik Tughan was building a fortress with assistance of 12000 Cavalry and Infantary at Baçaim (Vasai). Nuno da Cunha came to Goa Velha immediately. He took counsel with Portuguese Fidalgo in Goa Velha as to what action should be taken with respect to Baçaim (Vasai). Ultimately they decided to attack Baçaim (Vasai). In January 1533 some Portuguese Fidalgo and 4000 Naval Portuguese & Goan Naval Soldiers sailed in the direction of Baçaim (Vasai), in 150 ships from Goa Velha. This was the first Expedition of Goans in the Portuguese Navy.




When they reached the coast of Baçaim (Vasai), Nuno da Cunha asked Malik Tughan to surrender the fortress to the Portuguese, but Malik Tughan protracted to act. When all the means of mediation failed, Nuno da Cunha determinedly decided to attack the fortress of Baçaim (Vasai). He finalised the plan of attack in consultation with his Portuguese Fidalgo and the next day morning he fixed the plan to attack the fortress. It was the 20th January,1533, the day when the festival of St Sebastian was supposed to be celebrated. The Franciscan priest, Bastião Pires was accompanying the Portuguese Navy. Nuno da Cunha requested him to celebrate a Mass in the name of St Sebastian. When the Mass was concluded, Nuno da Cunha made three groups of his Soldiers.

The 1st Group of Portuguese Fidalgo under command Diago de Silveira.

The 2nd Group of Goan Soldiers under command Manuel de Albuquerque.

The 3rd Group of Portuguese soldiers under command Nuno da Cunha.

In this furious Battle, which went on for three hours, Malik Tughan was defeated, 500 of his warriors were killed, whereas only 23 Portuguese soldiers lost their lives. Even though the Portuguese were numerically insignificant, they fought with skill and valor killing off most of the enemy soldiers but lost only a handful of their own.

Nuno da Cunha decided to celebrate this Victory, The Conquest of Baçaim in a Portuguese style. He first entered the fort, thanked God and then congratulated the Portuguese Fidalgo & Soldiers who had fought valiantly. The Portuguese celebrated the festival of St Sebastian and their Victory in Baçaim simultaneously on the same day with pride and joy. Nuno da Cunha ordered to bring fifty barrels of wine, Pork & Liquor. He threw a banquet to his soldiers. In the afternoon when the party was over, Nuno da Cunha ordered to topple down the fortress built of clay and stones by Malik Tughan. The Portuguese felt no need of the fortress as they had already built a fort at Chaul. The first thing done was the gate of this fortress was mined and destroyed. The whole fortress was completely raised to the ground, and then the Governor Nuno da Cunha returned to Goa Velha.


Thought they had conquered Baçaim, it was not in the possession of the Portuguese authoritatively. Nuno da Cunha started negotiating with Bahadurshah of Gujarat for the authoritative possession of Baçaim. At this this time the Mughal army of Humayun descended on Gujarat. On one side there were attack from Mughals and other side pressure of the Portuguese, thus Bahadurshah was caught in a difficult predicament. So in order to confront the Mughals successfully, he made a treaty with the Portuguese admitting to hand over Baçaim along with its surrounding areas to the the Portuguese. He send Khwaja Shaik Iyaz, to negotiation. Finally, the treaty was signed and the Portuguese became the authoritative owners of Baçaim (Vasai).