# The Chronicle of Malta: Crossroads of the Mediterranean, from the world's oldest temples to a modern European republic. History of Malta: Crossroads of the Mediterranean, from the world's oldest temples to a modern European republic. 6 eras and 25 sourced events, every… Canonical: https://terralore.co/country/MLT/chronicle Updated: 2026-06-13 Founding: Independence from the United Kingdom — 21 September 1964. Modern Malta dates its statehood to 21 September 1964, when the islands became an independent sovereign state within the Commonwealth after more than a century and a half of British colonial rule. Independence followed centuries in which Malta had been governed in turn by Carthage, Rome, the Arabs, the Normans of Sicily, the Knights of St John, France and finally Britain, which had confirmed its possession of the islands by the Treaty of Paris in 1814. The independent State of Malta initially retained the British monarch as head of state; it became a republic on 13 December 1974, and after the departure of the last British forces on 31 March 1979 it adopted a policy of constitutional neutrality, completing its passage from imperial naval base to a small, self-governing European nation that joined the European Union in 2004. Malta's history is the history of a tiny but coveted archipelago at the centre of the Mediterranean, fought over and shaped by every power that dominated the sea around it. Its earliest inhabitants raised the megalithic temples of Ggantija, Hagar Qim, Mnajdra and Tarxien between roughly 3600 and 2500 BCE, monumental stone buildings that rank among the oldest free-standing structures on Earth, and hollowed out the subterranean necropolis of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. Phoenician traders and then Carthage held the islands before Rome took them in 218 BCE; Christian tradition dates the islands' conversion to the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul around 60 CE. Arab rule from 870 gave Malta its Semitic language, the Normans brought it into the orbit of Sicily in 1091, and in 1530 the Emperor Charles V handed the islands to the Knights of St John. The Knights' repulse of the Ottomans in the Great Siege of 1565 and the founding of Valletta made Malta a Christian bastion. Napoleon seized the islands in 1798, but a Maltese revolt and British power confirmed British rule by the Treaty of Paris in 1814, turning Malta into a great naval base whose heroism under siege in the Second World War won the whole island the George Cross. Malta gained independence in 1964, became a republic in 1974 and a neutral state after the British left in 1979, and joined the European Union in 2004. This file carries the chronicle's sourced event record — every event with its year, summary and source keys (resolved under References below). The full reading narrative lives on the canonical page. ## The Temple Builders and Prehistoric Malta — c. 5900 – 2500 BCE On two small islands a Neolithic people raised some of the oldest monumental architecture on Earth, then vanished, leaving stone temples and an underground city of the dead. - c. 3600 BCE: **The temples of Ggantija raised on Gozo** — The two megalithic temples of Ggantija were built on Gozo, the South Temple around 3600 BCE, ranking among the oldest free-standing monumental buildings in the world. [whe-temples, heritage-ggantija] - c. 3600–2500 BCE: **The Maltese temple culture flourishes** — A Neolithic society raised the temples of Hagar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien, Skorba and Ta' Hagrat in successive phases, creating monumental architecture without the use of metal tools. [whe-temples] - c. 3300–2500 BCE: **The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum** — A vast underground necropolis was cut on three levels into the limestone, holding the remains of about 7,000 people and the famous Sleeping Lady figurine. [whe-temples, whe-sleeping-lady] - c. 2500 BCE: **The temple builders disappear** — Around 2500 BCE the temple-building culture came to an end for reasons still debated, and a new Bronze Age population succeeded the people who had raised the great monuments. [whe-temples] Figures: - The temple builders of Malta — Neolithic society, c. 4000–2500 BCE. An anonymous farming people who, without metal or the wheel, quarried and raised the megalithic temples and carved the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, leaving some of the earliest monumental architecture on Earth before their culture vanished around 2500 BCE. - The Sleeping Lady — Prehistoric clay figurine, c. 3000 BCE. A small reclining clay figure recovered from the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, traced with red ochre and roughly five thousand years old, widely regarded as a masterpiece of prehistoric art and a possible image of a mother goddess or of eternal sleep. ## Phoenicians, Carthage, Rome and the Coming of Christianity — c. 800 BCE – 870 CE A natural way-station between Africa, Sicily and the Levant, Malta passed from Phoenician traders to Carthage and Rome, and tradition makes it one of the first lands won for Christianity. - from c. 6th century BCE: **Carthaginian Malta** — Following earlier Phoenician use of the islands as a trading station, the Carthaginians were firmly established in Malta by the sixth century BCE, leaving coins, inscriptions and Punic rock tombs. [britannica-malta] - 218 BCE: **Malta becomes Roman** — During the Second Punic War Malta passed under Roman control and was attached to the praetorship of Sicily, beginning some seven centuries of Roman and then Byzantine rule. [britannica-malta] - c. 60 CE: **The shipwreck of the Apostle Paul** — Christian tradition, drawing on the Acts of the Apostles, holds that Paul was shipwrecked on Malta around 60 CE, welcomed by the islanders and the leading man Publius, and stayed three months, beginning the islands' conversion. [ebsco-stpaul] - 1st–2nd century CE: **Roman municipium** — Under Rome the Maltese were allowed to coin money, send delegations to Rome and manage their own affairs, and the islands were granted the status of a Roman municipium. [britannica-malta] Figures: - Paul the Apostle — Apostle, traditional evangeliser of Malta. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was shipwrecked on Malta around 60 CE on his voyage to Rome. The islanders' kindness and his stay of about three months, during which Publius and others were converted, became the founding story of Maltese Christianity. - Publius — Roman official, traditional first bishop of Malta. Described in the Acts of the Apostles as the leading man of the island who received Paul hospitably; after Paul healed his father, tradition holds that Publius converted to Christianity and became the first bishop of Malta. ## Arabs, Normans and Medieval Malta — 870 – 1530 Arab rule gave Malta its Semitic language; the Normans bound it to Sicily, and for four centuries the islands were a frontier outpost of the Latin kingdoms of the central Mediterranean. - 870: **Arab conquest of Malta** — An Arab force seized Malta from the Byzantine Empire, beginning a period of more than two centuries that would shape the islands' language and culture. [britannica-malta, britannica-maltese-people] - from 870: **Birth of the Maltese language** — The Arabic of the islands' settlers evolved into Maltese, a Semitic language that is unique in being written in the Latin alphabet and that survives as the national language today. [britannica-maltese-people] - 1091: **Norman conquest by Roger I** — Count Roger I of Sicily took Malta from the Arabs in 1091, attaching the islands to the Kingdom of Sicily and beginning their return to Latin Christendom. [britannica-roger-i, britannica-history-malta] - 13th–15th century: **Rule under Sicily and Aragon** — As part of the Kingdom of Sicily, Malta passed through Norman, Swabian, Angevin and Aragonese hands, governed by feudal lords and a local council, until 1530. [britannica-history-malta] Figures: - Roger I of Sicily (c. 1031 – 1101) — Norman Count of Sicily. The Norman conqueror who completed the seizure of Sicily and took Malta from the Arabs in 1091, drawing the islands into the Latin Christian world and the orbit of the Sicilian crown. - The Maltese language — Semitic tongue of Malta. Rooted in the Arabic of the islands' settlers after 870, Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. It absorbed Italian, Sicilian and later English influences yet preserves its Arabic core, an enduring legacy of the medieval centuries. ## The Knights of St John and the Great Siege — 1530 – 1798 Granted to a crusading order that had lost Rhodes, Malta became a fortress of Christendom; the repulse of the Ottomans in 1565 and the building of Valletta made the islands famous across Europe. - 1530: **Charles V grants Malta to the Knights** — Eight years after losing Rhodes to the Ottomans, the Order of St John received Malta from the Emperor Charles V, who held Sicily, in return for a token annual tribute, and made the islands their new sovereign base. [whe-hospitaller, orderofmalta-uk, britannica-hospitallers] - 18 May – 8 Sep 1565: **The Great Siege of Malta** — An Ottoman army sent by Suleiman the Magnificent besieged the Knights and Maltese for nearly four months; under Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Valette the defenders held out until a Sicilian relief force compelled the Ottomans to withdraw. [newworld-siege, britannica-siege-malta, britannica-valette] - 1566: **Founding of Valletta** — In the year after the siege the Knights began building a new fortified capital on Mount Sciberras, named Valletta after the Grand Master and conceived as a planned Renaissance fortress-city; it became the capital in 1570. [britannica-valletta, newworld-siege] - 1571–1798: **Two and a half centuries of the Order** — From their new capital the Knights ruled Malta as a sovereign order-state, building auberges, hospitals and the conventual church of St John and shaping a baroque culture until their fall in 1798. [orderofmalta-uk, britannica-hospitallers] Figures: - Jean Parisot de la Valette (1494 – 1568) — Grand Master of the Knights of St John. Grand Master during the Great Siege of 1565, de la Valette led the defence of Malta against Suleiman the Magnificent's army and, after the Ottoman withdrawal, founded the new capital that bears his name, Valletta. - Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1464 – 1534) — Grand Master who took possession of Malta. The Grand Master who had surrendered Rhodes to the Ottomans in 1522 and, after years without a home, took possession of Malta for the Order in 1530 under the grant of Charles V. ## Napoleon, British Rule and the Naval Fortress — 1798 – 1939 Napoleon expelled the Knights in 1798, but a Maltese revolt and British power confirmed British rule by the Treaty of Paris, turning the islands into a great Mediterranean naval base. - Jun 1798: **Napoleon seizes Malta** — On his way to Egypt, Napoleon Bonaparte captured Malta from the Knights of St John, whose rule collapsed almost without a fight, ending two and a half centuries of the Order's sovereignty. [britannica-history-malta, whe-hospitaller] - 1798–1800: **Maltese uprising and French surrender** — French seizures of church property triggered a Maltese revolt; with British and Sicilian naval support the insurgents blockaded the French garrison in Valletta until it surrendered in 1800. [britannica-history-malta] - 1814: **British rule confirmed by the Treaty of Paris** — Having acknowledged British sovereignty, the Maltese saw the islands' attachment to Britain confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814, making Malta a Crown colony. [britannica-treaty-paris, britannica-history-malta] - 19th century: **Malta as a naval fortress** — British development of the Grand Harbour dockyard made Malta one of the chief bases of the Royal Navy and the strategic centre of British power in the Mediterranean. [britannica-malta-modern] Figures: - Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) — French general and later emperor. On his way to Egypt in 1798 Napoleon seized Malta from the Knights of St John, ending the Order's rule. His brief occupation provoked a Maltese revolt that opened the way to British control. - Ferdinand von Hompesch (1744 – 1805) — Last ruling Grand Master in Malta. Grand Master of the Order of St John at the time of Napoleon's invasion in 1798, under whom the Knights surrendered Malta to the French, ending the Order's two-and-a-half-century rule of the islands. ## The George Cross Island and the European Republic — 1939 – present Besieged and bombed in the Second World War, Malta won the George Cross for its endurance, then moved from colony to independence, to a neutral republic and finally to membership of the European Union. - 1940–1942: **The siege of Malta** — From 1940 Malta, lying between Sicily and Axis North Africa, was subjected to relentless Italian and German bombing and a near-starvation blockade while its forces struck at Axis supply convoys. [rafbf-georgecross] - 15 Apr 1942: **Malta awarded the George Cross** — King George VI awarded the George Cross to the whole island of Malta to honour its heroism and endurance under siege, the only time the decoration has been given to an entire population. [rafbf-georgecross] - 21 Sep 1964: **Independence** — Malta became an independent sovereign state within the Commonwealth on 21 September 1964, ending more than a century and a half of British colonial rule. [britannica-malta-modern] - 13 Dec 1974: **Malta becomes a republic** — Constitutional amendments made Malta a republic on 13 December 1974, replacing the British monarch with a Maltese president as head of state. [britannica-malta-modern] - 1 May 2004: **Accession to the European Union** — Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 in its largest enlargement and adopted the euro on 1 January 2008, completing its integration into Europe. [eu-malta] Figures: - King George VI (1895 – 1952) — King of the United Kingdom. In April 1942 he awarded the George Cross to the island of Malta, declaring that it bore witness to a heroism and devotion that would long be famous in history, the only time the medal has honoured a whole population. - Dom Mintoff (1916 – 2012) — Prime Minister of Malta. The dominant Labour leader of post-independence Malta who secured the withdrawal of British forces in 1979 and pressed for the islands' neutrality and non-alignment, written into the constitution in 1987. Machine-readable claims — every event above as an addressable claim ID (TL:MLT:event::) with its sources and a ready citation string: https://terralore.co/country/MLT/chronicle.claims.json ## References - [whe-temples] The Megalithic Temples of Malta — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1678/the-megalithic-temples-of-malta/ - [whe-sleeping-lady] The Sleeping Lady — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/image/245/the-sleeping-lady/ - [heritage-ggantija] Ggantija Archaeological Park — Heritage Malta · https://heritagemalta.mt/explore/ggantija-archaeological-park/ - [britannica-malta] Malta: History, Language, Map, People — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Malta - [britannica-history-malta] History of Malta — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Malta - [britannica-malta-modern] Malta: Modern history (British rule and independence) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Malta/Modern-history - [britannica-maltese-people] Maltese (people) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maltese-people - [britannica-roger-i] Roger I, Norman Count of Sicily — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-I - [ebsco-stpaul] Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck (Malta) — EBSCO Research Starters · https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/feast-st-pauls-shipwreck-malta - [whe-hospitaller] Knights Hospitaller — World History Encyclopedia · https://www.worldhistory.org/Knights_Hospitaller/ - [orderofmalta-uk] History of the Order of Malta: 1048 to Present — Order of Malta (British Association) · https://www.orderofmalta.org.uk/history/1048-to-present/ - [newworld-siege] Siege of Malta (1565) — New World Encyclopedia · https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Siege_of_Malta_(1565) - [britannica-siege-malta] Siege of Malta (1565) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Malta - [britannica-valette] Jean Parisot de la Valette — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Parisot-de-la-Valette - [britannica-valletta] Valletta, Malta's historic capital — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/place/Valletta - [britannica-hospitallers] Hospitallers (Knights of Malta) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hospitallers - [britannica-treaty-paris] Treaty of Paris (1814) — Encyclopaedia Britannica · https://www.britannica.com/topic/Treaty-of-Paris-1814 - [rafbf-georgecross] George Cross awarded to the island of Malta — Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund · https://www.rafbf.org/news-and-stories/raf-history/george-cross-awarded-island-malta - [eu-malta] Malta — EU country profile — European Union · https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/eu-countries/malta_en - [statedept-malta] A Guide to the United States' History of Recognition: Malta — U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian · https://history.state.gov/countries/malta - [wikipedia-malta] Malta — Wikipedia · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta Citation template: Terralore, "The Chronicle of Malta: Crossroads of the Mediterranean, from the world's oldest temples to a modern European republic.", terralore.co/country/MLT/chronicle, retrieved .