Malta 

has a long history and was first inhabited in around 5900 BC.[1][2] The first inhabitants were
farmers, and their agricultural methods degraded the soil until the islands became uninhabitable.
The islands were repopulated around 3850 BC by a civilization which at its peak built
the Megalithic Temples, which today are among the oldest surviving buildings in the world. Their
civilization collapsed in around 2350 BC, but the islands were repopulated by Bronze
Age warriors soon afterwards.
Malta's prehistory ends in around 700 BC, when the islands were colonized by the Phoenicians.
They ruled the islands until they fell in 218 BC to the Roman Republic. The island was acquired
by the Eastern Romans or Byzantines in the 6th century AD, who were expelled
by Aghlabids following a siege in 870 AD. Malta may have been sparsely populated for a few
centuries until being repopulated by Arabs in the 11th century. The islands were invaded by the
Norman County of Sicily in 1091, and a gradual Christianization of the islands followed. At this
point, the islands became part of the Kingdom of Sicily and were dominated by successive feudal
rulers, including the Swabians, the Aragonese, and eventually the Spanish.
The islands were given to the Order of St. John in 1530, who ruled them as a vassal state of
Sicily. In 1565, the Ottoman Empire attempted to take the islands in the Great Siege of Malta, but
the invasion was repelled. The Order continued to rule Malta for over two centuries, and this
period was characterized by a flourishing of the arts and architecture and an overall improvement
in society. The Order was expelled after the French First Republic invaded the islands in 1798,
marking the beginning of the French occupation of Malta.
After a few months of French rule, the Maltese rebelled and the French were expelled in 1800
with British, Neapolitan and Portuguese assistance. Malta subsequently became a British
protectorate, becoming a de facto colony in 1813. This was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris a
year later. The islands became an important naval base for the British, serving as the
headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet. Due to this, Malta was attacked by the Axis
powers during World War II, and in 1942 the island was awarded the George Cross, which today
appears on Malta's flag and coat of arms. The Crown Colony of Malta was self-governing from
1921–1933, 1947–1958 and 1962–1964.
Malta became an independent Commonwealth realm known as the State of Malta in 1964, and it
became a republic in 1974. Since 2004, the country has been a member state of the European
Union.

Geology[edit]
Malta stands on an underwater ridge that extends from North Africa to Sicily. At some time in the
distant past, Malta was submerged, as shown by marine fossils embedded in rock in the highest
points of Malta. As the ridge was pushed up and the Strait of Gibraltar closed through tectonic
activity, the sea level was lower, and Malta was on a bridge of dry land that extended between
the two continents, surrounded by large lakes. Some caverns in Malta have revealed bones
of elephants, hippopotamuses, and other large animals now found in Africa, while others have
revealed animals native to Europe.

Neolithic (5900 BC–3850 BC)[edit]

Further information: Cardium pottery culture
While until recently, it was believed that Malta's first inhabitants arrived in the islands in 5700 BC,
it has now been established that this occurred around 5900 BC, as is evidenced by studies of
ancient soils.[2][1] These first Neolithic people have generally been assumed to have arrived from
Sicily (about 100 kilometres or 62 miles north),[citation needed] but DNA analysis shows that they
originated from different parts of the Mediterranean, including both Europe and Africa.[2]
They were mainly farming and fishing communities, with some evidence of hunting activities.
They apparently lived in caves and open dwellings. During the centuries that followed there is
evidence of further contacts with other cultures, which left their influence on the local
communities, evidenced by their pottery designs and colours.[citation needed] The farming methods
degraded the soil; at the same time prolonged drought set in, and the islands became too dry to
sustain agricultural practices. This occurred partly due to climate change and drought, and the
islands were uninhabited for about a millennium.[2]
Research carried out as part of the FRAGSUS project, comprising analysis of soil cores from
valleys, which contained ancient pollen and animal evidence from past environments, revealed
that "climate change fluctuations made Malta uninhabitable in some periods of prehistory. There
was a substantial break of around 1,000 years between the first settlers and the next group who
settled permanently on the Maltese islands and eventually built the megalithic temples."[2]

Temple period (3850 BC–2350 BC)[edit]

The megalithic temple of Ħaġar Qim

One of the so-called "fat ladies" of ancient Malta, at the Tarxien Temples

Spiral motif from one of the megalithic temples, now at the National Museum of Archaeology

Main article: Megalithic Temples of Malta

A second wave of colonization arrived from Sicily in around 3850 BC.[2] Prof. Caroline Malone has
said: "Given the restricted land space of Malta, it is remarkable that the second colonisation
survived for 1,500 years. This sort of settlement stability is unheard of in Europe and is
impressive in terms of how they were able to live on an ever-degrading land for such a period of
time."[2]
One of the most notable periods of Malta's history is the temple period, starting around 3600 BC.
The Ġgantija Temple in Gozo is one of the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. The name
of the complex stems from the Maltese word ġgant, which reflects the magnitude of the temple's
size. Many of the temples are in the form of five semicircular rooms connected at the centre. It
has been suggested that these might have represented the head, arms, and legs of a deity,
since one of the commonest kinds of statue found in these temples comprises obese human
figures, popularly termed "fat ladies" despite their ambiguity of gender, and often considered to
represent fertility.[citation needed]
The civilization which built the temples lasted for about 1,500 years until about 2350 BC, at which
point the culture seems to have disappeared. There is speculation about what might have
happened and whether they were completely wiped out or assimilated,[citation needed] but it is thought
that the collapse occurred due to climate conditions and drought.[2]
Prof. Malone has stated: "We can learn a lot from the mistakes made by the first Maltese. The
lack of water, coupled with the destruction of soil that takes centuries to form, can cause the
failure of a civilisation. The second group of inhabitants to Malta in 3850–2350 BC managed their
resources adequately and harnessed soil and food for over 1,500 years. It was only when climate
conditions and drought became so extreme that they failed."[2]
Between 2600 and 2400 BC. e. on the island of Malta there was a huge infant mortality - about
50%.[3]

Bronze Age (2350 BC–700 BC)[edit]

After the Temple period came the Bronze Age. From this period there are remains of a number of
settlements and villages, as well as dolmens — altar-like structures made out of very large slabs
of stone. They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the
previous megalithic temples.
It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity to the constructions
found in the largest island of the Mediterranean sea.[4]
One surviving menhir, which was used to build temples, still stands at Kirkop; it is one of the few
still in good condition.
Among the most interesting and mysterious remnants of this era are the so-called cart ruts as
they can be seen at a place on Malta called Misraħ Għar il-Kbir (informally known as 'Clapham
Junction'). These are pairs of parallel channels cut into the surface of the rock, and extending for
considerable distances, often in an exactly straight line. Their exact use is unknown. One
suggestion is that beasts of burden used to pull carts along, and these channels would guide the
carts and prevent the animals from straying. The society that built these structures eventually
died out or at any rate disappeared.[citation needed]
Between 1400 BC and 1200 BC there was a Mycaenaean influence on the Malta, which is
evidenced by presence of Mycaenaean artefacts.[5]

Antiquity[edit]
Phoenicians and Carthage[edit]
One of the Cippi of Melqart which were discovered in Malta

Phoenicians possibly from Tyre began to colonize the islands in approximately the early 8th

century BC as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the
Mediterranean. Phoenician tombs have been found in Rabat, Malta and the town of the same
name on Gozo, which suggest that the main urban centres at the time were present-
day Mdina on Malta and the Cittadella on Gozo.[6] The former settlement was known
as Maleth meaning safe haven, and the whole island began to be referred to by that name.
The Maltese Islands fell under the hegemony of Carthage around the middle of 6th century BC,
along with most other Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean. By the late 4th century
BC, Malta had become a trading post linking southern Italy and Sicily to Tripolitania. This
resulted in the introduction of Hellenistic features in architecture and pottery, discerning Malta
was Hellenized; it is not known if Malta was settled like a traditional Greek "apoikia", so, some
support that Malta was never a Greek colony.[7] Hellenistic architectural features can be seen in
the Punic temple at Tas-Silġ and a tower in Żurrieq. The Greek language also began to be used
in Malta, as evidenced by the bilingual Phoenician and Greek inscriptions found on the Cippi of
Melqart. In the 18th century, French scholar Jean-Jacques Barthélemy deciphered the
extinct Phoenician alphabet using the inscriptions on these cippi.[6]
In 255 BC, the Romans raided Malta during the First Punic War, devastating much of the island.[6]

Roman rule[edit]

Roman mosaics in the Domvs Romana of ancient Melite

According to Latin historian Livy, the Maltese Islands passed into the hands of the Romans at the
start of the Second Punic War in the year 218 BC. As written by Livy, the commander of the
Punic garrison on the Island surrendered without resistance to Tiberius Sempronius Longus, one
of the two consuls for that year who was on his way to North Africa. The archipelago became
part of the province of Sicily, but by the 1st century AD it had its own senate and people's
assembly. By this time, both Malta and Gozo minted distinctive coins based on Roman weight
measurements.[8]
In the Roman period, the Punic city of Maleth became known as Melite, and it became the
administrative hub of the Island. Its size grew to its maximum extent, occupying the entire area of
present-day Mdina and large parts of Rabat, extending to what is now the church of St Paul.
Remains show that the city was surrounded by thick defensive walls and was also protected by a
protective ditch that ran along the same line of St Rita Street, which was built directly above it.
Remains hint that a religious centre with a number of temples was built on the highest part of the
promontory. The remains of one impressive residence known as the Domvs Romana have been
excavated, revealing well-preserved Pompeian style mosaics. This domus seems to have been
the residence of a rich Roman aristocrat, and it is believed to have been built in the 1st century
BC and abandoned in the 2nd century AD.[9]

Greek-Roman remains at the Malta Maritime Museum[10]

The islands prospered under Roman rule, and were eventually distinguished as
a Municipium and a Foederata Civitas. Many Roman antiquities still exist, testifying to the close
link between the Maltese inhabitants and Sicily.[11] Throughout the period of Roman
rule, Latin became Malta's official language, and Roman religion was introduced in the islands.
Despite this, the local Punic-Hellenistic culture and language is thought to have survived until at
least the 1st century AD.[8]
In AD 60, the Acts of the Apostles records that Saint Paul was shipwrecked on an island named
Melite, which many Bible scholars and Maltese conflate with Malta; there is a tradition that the
shipwreck took place on the shores of the aptly named "St. Paul's Bay".
Malta remained part of the Roman Empire until the early 6th century AD.[8] The Vandals and later
the Ostrogoths might have briefly occupied the islands in the 5th century,[12] but there is no
archaeological evidence to support this.[13]

Middle Ages[edit]
Byzantine rule[edit]
Main article: Byzantine Malta

Remains of a Byzantine basilica at Tas-Silġ, which was built on the site of earlier megalithic and Punic-
Roman temples

In 533, Byzantine general Belisarius may have landed at Malta while on his way from Sicily to

North Africa, and by 535, the islands were integrated into the Byzantine province of Sicily. During
the Byzantine period, the main settlements remained the city of Melite on mainland Malta and
the Citadel on Gozo, while Marsaxlokk, Marsaskala, Marsa and Xlendi are believed to have
served as harbours. The relatively high quantity of Byzantine ceramics found in Malta suggests
that the island might have had an important strategic role within the empire from the 6th to 8th
centuries.[14]
From the late 7th century onward, the Mediterranean was being threatened by Muslim
expansion. At this point, the Byzantines probably improved the defences of Malta, as can be
seen by defensive walls built around the basilica at Tas-Silġ around the 8th century. The
Byzantines might have also built the retrenchment which reduced Melite to one-third of its
original size.[15]