Tabarca settled here. The islet was renamed Nova Tabarca ("New Tabarca" in both Valencian and Latin). Thus a settlement was created by royal edict on this uninhabited island which the North African corsaries had previously used as a platform for raids on the Levantine coast. On their arrival, the Genoese were first moved to Alicante, where they lived temporarily in the Jesuit School, empty after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain. Finally, the Genoese were moved to the island together with a Spanish garrison. The military engineer Fernando Méndez Ras planned a fortified town and walls, bulwarks, warehouses and barracks
Tabarca were built. From 1770, the island was known as Nueva Tabarca ('New Tabarca'). Although the Genoese assimilated, abandoning their language in favour first of Valencian and, later on, of Spanish (both languages are currently spoken on the islet), the Genoese descent of the settlers can still be noticed today in the surnames of Italian origin common on the islet. The island is twinned with Carloforte, in the Sardinian San Pietro Island, which was also populated with Genoese from Tunisian Tabarka. The gateways are still visible and so are the Governor's House (currently a hotel) and the church of St Peter