Malta » History

After the war, and after a short period of political instability due to the Malta Labour Party's unsuccessful attempt at 'Integration with Britain', Malta was granted independence on September 21, 1964 (Independence Day). Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta, with a Governor-General exercising executive authority on her behalf.

On December 13, 1974 (Republic Day), however, it became a republic within the Commonwealth, with the President as head of state. A defence agreement signed soon after independence (and re-negotiated in 1972) expired on March 31, 1979 (Freedom Day) when the British military forces were withdrawn. Malta joined the European Union on May 1, 2004. It will be joining the Eurozone in 2008.

Longer Historical Perspective

Malta has been inhabited since around 5200 BC. A significant prehistoric culture, that predates the Pyramids of Giza by a millennium, is believed to have existed on the islands. Phoenicians colonised the islands around 1000 BC, using them as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean. The islands later came under the control of Carthage (400 BC) and then of Rome (218 BC).

The islands prospered under Roman rule, during which time they were considered a Municipium and a Foederata Civitas. Many Roman antiquities still exist, testifying to the close link between the Maltese inhabitants and the people of Rome. In AD 60, the islands were visited by Saint Paul, who is said to have been shipwrecked on the shores of the aptly-named "Saint Paul's Bay". In 1530, the islands were given by Spain to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in perpetual lease. (The Kingdom of Aragon had owned the islands as part of their Mediterranean empire for some time.) These knights, a military religious order now known as the "Knights of Malta", had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522.