The Maltese islands are the 'open air museum of the Mediterranean', offering 7,000 years or more of history to explore with numerous cultural, historical and megalithic sites unique in the world. The islands boast prehistoric ruins older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids of Egypt, and are steeped in the legacy of the medieval order of the Knights of St John, who used the island as their stronghold for defending Christendom.
Pre-History
5200 B.C.Arrival of Man in Malta
3200 B.C.Building of Megalithic temples
2000 B.C.Invasion of Bronze Age peoples
800 B.C.Phoenician colonization
Ancient Civilisation
900 B.C.The start of the iron Age
480 B.C.Carthaginian domination
218 B.C.Roman domination after the Punic Wars
60St Paul shipwrecked in Malta
Arabs
395Byzantine domination of Malta
870Arabs Occupy Malta
Normans And The Middle Ages
1090 Norman's occupation
1194 Swabian occupation
1266 Angevins occupation
1283 Aragonese occupation
1325 Establishment of a Maltese nobility
1397 Establishment of the Universita
1485 Death of Peter Caxaro
Knights of St.John
1530 Order of the Knights of St.John arrive in Malta
1561 Inquisition established
1565 The Great Siege of Malta by the Ottoman Turks
1566 The Founding of Valletta
French
1798 Napoleon Bonaparte takes Malta from the Knights
1799 Britain takes Malta
1800 The French surrender
1802 Peace of Amiens
British
1814 Malta becomes a British Crown colony
1914 - 18 First World War
1921 Amery - Milner constitution granting self-goverment
1939 - 45 Second World War, Malta is awarded the George Cross
Malta Today
1964 Malta Independence within the British Commonwealth
1974 Malta becomes a Republic
1979 Last British service leaves Malta
2004 Malta becomes a member of the European Union