Malta — 7,000 Years of History on One Island

Malta is history's Forrest Gump — it has been everywhere and seen everything. In 7,000 years it has been visited by Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, the Knights Hospitaller, Napoleon and the British. Each left something. The Maltese absorbed everything and remained themselves.

5500–2500 BC — The Temple Period

The first human culture discovered here built the oldest freestanding stone structures in the world — temples older than the Pyramids. Around 2500 BC this culture completely vanished. Reason unknown. One of prehistory's great mysteries.

800 BC — Phoenicians

The first historical owners of Malta. They gave names to many places (Gozo may come from the Phoenician "Gwl" — joy/dance?). The Maltese language still carries traces of Semitic structure to this day.

218 BC–870 AD — Rome and Byzantium

Romans for 700 years — a relatively quiet period. Roads, villas, trade. The catacombs beneath Rabat are their legacy. Around 60 AD a ship carrying St. Paul the Apostle was wrecked here — and Malta became Christian before Rome did.

870–1091 — Arabs

Two hundred years of Arab rule revolutionised the island. The Arabs introduced irrigation, cotton cultivation, citrus and lemon trees. The Maltese language (written in an Arabic-Latin hybrid alphabet) has 40% Arabic vocabulary. "Ħobż" (bread), "nbid" (wine), "kamra" (room) — Arabic words in every conversation.

1530–1798 — Knights of Malta

268 years of intensive building and fighting. Valletta, the Co-Cathedral, the great forts. The Great Siege of 1565. A peak and a fall — Napoleon conquered the island in 6 days.

1800–1964 — The British

164 years. Malta was a key naval port of the Empire. Left-hand traffic, three-pin sockets, tea with milk, cricket and English as an official language — all British. During World War II Malta endured 154 consecutive days of bombardment. The entire nation was awarded the George Cross — the only time a military decoration has been given to an entire population.

1964 — Independence

Malta gained independence on 21 September 1964. In 2004 it joined the EU. Today: 500,000 residents, several million tourists annually, and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.