BASSEIN, a district and town in the Irrawaddy division of Lower Burma. The district has been reduced to 4,145sq.m., from 8,954sq.m. in 1871, having given up a large tract to the district of Myaungmya formed in 1896. The eastern half of the district lies in the Irrawaddy delta but the western half is formed by the southern portion of the Arakan Yomas and extends to the western or Arakan coast. The principal river is the Bassein, the westernmost distributary of the Irrawaddy. In 1931 the popula tion of the district was 571,043, and of the town 45,662.
Bassein, the chief town and port, is the administrative centre of the district and division, and is situated on the eastern bank of the Bassein river. It fell before the British arms in May 1852, during the 2nd Burmese War, and now forms an important seat of the rice trade with several steam rice mills and has great capabilities from a mercantile point of view. Though there are several dangerous bends in the river, it is navigable up to Bas sein by liners up to io,000 tons. The vessels of the Irrawaddy Flotilla company ply between Rangoon and Bassein, etc., by-in land waters, and a railway opened in 1903 runs north-eastward through the centre of the district to Henzada and Letpadan.