Malta is made up of a grouping of very small islands located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily, north of Libya, east of Tunisia. The islands combined have a total of only 316 square kilometers and have a population of 400,000. Being located smack in the center of the Mediterranean, it has always been viewed as a strategic location for controlling shipping in the region. As a result, this tiny country has an amazingly rich history. It actually often parallels Sicily’s history.
Malta was first inhabited in 5200 BC by people who came from Sicily. The oldest surviving freestanding structures in the world are located in Malta. There have been four pre-historic temples found in Malta, built between 3600 and 2500BC. These temples predate the Egyptian Pyramids at Giza by roughly 1000 years and Stonehenge by roughly 1500 years. In 800 BC, the Phoenicians (from what is now Syria) arrived and set up a colony. In 700 BC, the Greeks arrived and set up a colony. In 480 BC, the Carthagians took control of the islands (same time they went to war with Greece over Sicily). Malta was incorporated into the Roman Republic in 218 BC (about 50 years after Sicily became a Roman territory).
When we last mentioned the Apostle St. Paul, we told you that he spent three years living in Ephesus, and that he was later imprisoned in Rome. After Ephesus, Paul went to Greece for a few months, then to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he was imprisoned and sent to Rome to stand trial, transported via ship. The ship stopped in Crete. It was late autumn and the sea conditions were poor. Paul warned it was dangerous to proceed, but they did anyway. A storm came out of nowhere and threw the ship off course. They crash landed on the main island of Malta (also called Malta). No one was hurt in the crash. The locals were hospitable. That first night, in front of a large crowd, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake. Paul killed the snake, and was not affected by the bite. The locals believed he was a prophet of God. The shipwrecked crew spent three months in Malta before they found a ship that took them to Siracusa and then eventually on to Rome. During the three months, Paul evangelized and healed the sick, and had converted all the people on the Maltese Islands by the time his ship sailed off.
After the Roman Empire split, Vandals took control of the islands in 400 AD (just as they did in Sicily), but the Byzantines were able to get Malta back in 533 AD. Arabs took over control of the islands in 870 AD (similar time frame as Sicily). In 1091, the Normans won control of Malta from the Arabs, and Malta became part of the Kingdom of Sicily. For 400 years Malta’s history was intertwined with Sicily’s.
When we last talked about the Knights Hospitalier, they had just been kicked out of the Dodacanese Islands/Bodrum Peninsula by the Ottoman Turks in 1523. The Knights took up residence in Sicily until 1530, when the reigning king of Sicily, Charles V of Spain, gave them Malta and the North African port of Tripoli as a new base of operations in exchange for the fee of one Maltese falcon per year. The Maltese people were given no say in the matter.
The Knights resumed their seaborne attacks on Ottoman shipping. In May 1565, an Ottoman fleet of 30,000 men laid siege to the Maltese islands. The 700 knights and 8000 Maltese residents managed to hold them off. After 3 months of vicious fighting, help finally arrived from Sicily and the Ottomans withdrew. The Ottomans had been trying to conquer more of Europe, and this defeat seemed to stop their aggressive expansion efforts. The Knights were hailed as the saviors of Europe, keeping the Ottomans (and Islam) from gaining a foothold in Europe.
During The Great Siege, Malta had incurred tremendous damage and the infrastructure needed to be restored. The Knights asked for assistance in rebuilding. Money was heaped on them by grateful monarchs. Not only were the damaged areas rebuilt, the construction of a brand new fortified city called Valletta began. With money and power came the inevitable corruption. Also, with no need for “holy crusaders” anymore, they lost their purpose for existence.
In 1798 Napoleon arrived. He was on his way to Egypt and made a stop to re-supply his ships. While there, he decided to conquer Malta. The Knights oddly didn’t put up much of a fight, and it was an easy victory won in a few days. Oh, and did we mention that most of the Knights at that point were French? Napoleon shamelessly looted the vast treasures on the Maltese Islands. In 1798, the Maltese aligned themselves with the British, and with British help, expelled the French in 1800. Malta became a protectorate of the British and in 1814 officially became a British colony.
The British made Malta into a major naval base and hospital for wounded combatants. In World War I, many casualties were shipped to Malta for care. Mussolini set his sights on Malta during World War II, and Malta became a lynchpin for the battle for the Mediterranean. In 1942, the Maltese suffered through 5 months of night and day bombing raids, which left 40,000 homes destroyed and the population on the brink of starvation.
In 1964, Malta became an independent nation. They joined the European Union in 2004.