the french, who fought with the portuguese for the control of the whole region, quickly understood this when their first attempts to fortify the small rock turned disastrous - andthey nicknamed the island of 'ratier', the mousetrap.

the first successful firebase would only come to be in the 1710s.

this structure would be expanded upon by the end of that century and was named fort tamandaré, although it is usually known simple as laje fort, 'forte da laje' in portuguese, even in the current days.

for the garrisons defending the fort life wasn't easy.