History of Malta

has been inhabited since 6400 BC initially by Mesolithic hunter gatherers, who were replaced by Neolithic farmers from Sicily around 5400 BC. These farmers practiced mixed farming after clearing most of the existing conifer forest that dominated the islands, but their agricultural methods degraded the soil until the islands became uninhabitable. The islands were repopulated around 3850 BC by a civilization that 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; 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 re-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, which 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 the social order. 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. Malta became a British protectorate, becoming a de facto colony in 1813. The islands became an important naval base for the British, serving as the headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet. During the last quarter of the 19th century, there were advancements in technology and finance. In subsequent years, the Anglo-Egyptian Bank was established in 1882 and the Malta Railway began operating in 1883. In 1921, London granted self-government to Malta. This resulted in the establishment of a bicameral parliament consisting of a Senate and an elected Legislative Assembly. The Crown Colony of Malta was self-governing in 1921–1933, 1947–1958, and 1962–1964.
During World War II British forces in Malta were heavily attacked by Italian and German air power, but the British held firm. In 1942 the island was awarded the George Cross, which today appears on Malta's flag and coat of arms.
In 1964 Malta became an independent Commonwealth realm known as the State of Malta, and in 1974 it became a republic while remaining in the Commonwealth. Since 2004 the country has been a member state of the European Union.

Pleistocene

Some caverns in Malta containing sediments of Pleistocene age have revealed bones of dwarf elephants, and dwarf hippopotamuses, as well as other extinct animals, which are thought to have crossed over from Sicily due to a submarine plateau that was exposed as dry land connecting Malta and Sicily during glacial periods. Although it has been claimed that Neanderthals were present on the island, because molar teeth were found in Ghar Dalam cave exhibiting taurodonty, this feature is also found among some modern human teeth and is thus not a definitive indicator that the teeth belong to Neanderthals, and the context of the finds is unclear, so this claim is not widely accepted. ^{Supplementary material}

Mesolithic (6500–5400 BC)

Malta has been inhabited from at least circa 6500 BC, with the arrival of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers likely originating from Sicily. Discoveries at Latnija Cave led by the Maltese archaeologist Eleanor Scerri included the remains of hearths, stone tools and an abundant and diverse range of animal bones. These included indigenous red deer that are now extinct, fish and marine mammals, as well as abundant edible marine gastropods. To arrive on Malta, these hunter-gatherers had to cross around 100 km of open water, documenting the longest yet-known sea crossing by hunter-gatherers in the Mediterranean. The extinction of the dwarf hippos, giant swans and dwarf elephants has historically been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. However this seems unlikely since recent work suggests these animals went extinct many thousands of years before the arrival of the first people, and no such animals were found in association with the earliest known Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.

Neolithic (5400 BC–2350 BC)

from Sicily arrived on Malta by around 5400 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter-gatherer population.
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. 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.
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."

Temple period (3850 BC–2350 BC)

A second wave of colonization arrived from Sicily in around 3850 BC. 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."
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.
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, but it is thought that the collapse occurred due to climate conditions and drought.
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."
Between 2600 and 2400 BC, half of those who died were children.

Bronze Age (2350 BC–700 BC)

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.
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. 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.
Between 1400 BC and 1200 BC there was a Mycenaean influence on the Malta, which is evidenced by presence of Mycenaean artefacts.

Antiquity

Phoenicians and Carthage

possibly from Tyrebegan to colonize the islands around the early, using it as an outpost from which they expanded sea exploration and trade in the Mediterranean. They called the principal island Ann. Necropolises have been found at Rabat on Malta and Rabat on Gozo, suggesting the main settlements were at present-day Mdina on Malta and Cittadella on Gozo. The former settlement was also known as Ann, suggesting it served as the colony's seat of government. The principal port, meanwhile, was at Cospicua on the Grand Harbor. Known simply as Maleth, it was probably the namesake of the Greeks' and Romans' names for the entire island.
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. It is not known if Malta was settled like a traditional Greek, so some support that Malta was never a Greek colony. 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 shown in 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.
In 255 BC, the Romans raided Malta during the First Punic War, devastating much of the island.