[4] About two thirds of the island is covered in protected natural rain forest ('Mata Atlantica'), with most human occupation and development occupying a narrow strip along the ocean front white sandy beaches, that stretch for around 12 km (7.5 miles) along the eastern coast.

Year round temperatures typically vary in a narrow range of 26-31C (79-88F), with the rainy season (occasional heavy rains, not monsoon) in May to July.

In the early 1500s before Portuguese colonization, when under Dutch control,[clarification needed] the island was the site of a trading post for furs and other native goods, and transhipment depot for Brazilwood.

[citation needed] The island at that time was occupied by various loosely related tribes of Tupi-Guarani native South American peoples.

In the Yosef Goldman Collection, there is a book titled Sefer Shefa Tal, a kabbalistic volume that was printed in Hanau, Germany, in 1612.

Rabbi Lagarto came to Brazil as a young man and was the author of a volume of aphorisms (copies of which, evidently, no longer exist).