MALTA
& ITS HISTORY
The strategic
position of Malta, Gozo and Comino has made these islands a
crossroads of history and often a subject of conflict. It is less
than
100km south of Sicily and 350km north of Libya. The island oldest
legacy is
the megalithic temples that date as far back as 3800 BC. The Greeks
and
Carthaginians also occupied Malta, until the Phoenicians colonised
the
islands at around 800 BC and stayed for about 600 years. The island
was
called "MELITA" by the Phoenicians, which meant honey
because of its
abundance. Then it was the turn of the Romans who made Malta part
of their
empire in 208 BC.
One of
the most famous visitor to the Maltese islands was the apostle
Paul,
who was shipwrecked on Malta in 60 AD, on his way to Rome. He
also brought
Christianity to the Maltese. Another famous visitor to the sister
island of
Gozo was Ulysses and that is why they call it the island of Calypso.
The Arabs
arrived in Malta in 870 and they introduced citrus fruits, cotton
and warped up the language. They left Malta in 1090 when the Norman
invaders displaced them and stayed there for the next 400 years.
In 1530
the Emperor of Spain gave the islands to the Knights of the Order
of
St. John of Jerusalem, in exchange for a rent of two Maltese falcons
a year.
The knights were members of the European aristocracy. They fortified
the
islands just in time for the Great Siege of Malta by 30,000 Turks
against
700 knights and 8000 Maltese in 1565, who managed to hold them
off. They
were hailed as saviours of Europe and they then designed and built
the city
of Valletta.
The knights
stayed in Malta until 1798 when Napoleon Bonaparte arrived and
took over from them with the help of the French knights.
In 1814
the Maltese asked the British to help them get rid of the French,
who were happy to oblige. Malta then became a British colony,
which lasted
for nearly 200 years, until they gained their independence in
1964.
During
the Second World War under the British rule, Malta suffered the
second siege. The island was blockaded and bombed night and day
by German
and Italian ships and aircraft for about five months. The whole
of the
island was devastated and on 15 April 1942, King George VI awarded
the
George Cross, Britain's highest award for civilian bravery to
the entire
island population and servicemen.
On 21
September 1964, Malta gained its independence and on 13 December
1974
it became a republic within the British Commonwealth. The last
British
troops left Malta on 31 March 1979.
