After the Knights of St John together with the Maltese managed to defend the Maltese Islands from the Ottoman threat in 1565, they immediately started working to rebuild the island.

During the next 200 hundred years the Knights fortified the islands of Malta against piracy and to be well prepared for any other attack by the Ottoman Empire.

Although some fortifications existed since the Middle Ages it was the Knights of St John that increased the fortifications drastically especially of the Harbour Area. Apart from the harbour area most of the coastline in Malta at the time of the Knights was scarcely inhabited. This was mainly due to the continued assaults by pirates from North Africa.