Malte: Un peu d'Histoire

La position stratégique de Malte au centre de la Méditerranée a attiré les convoitises tout au long des siècles: Phéniciens, Romains, Arabes, Anglais... autant de civilisations ayant laissé des traces dans l'archipel.
La chronologie (en anglais! désolés 😏) du site de l'office de tourisme maltais montre bien les différentes périodes d'occupation qui ont façonné le pays:

		Prehistory
	5200 B.C.		Arrival of man on Malta
	3200 B.C.		Building of megalithic temples
	2000 B.C.		Invasion of Bronze Age peoples
	800 B.C.		Phoenician colonisation
			Early Inhabitants
	900 B.C.		The start of the Iron Age
	480 B.C.		Carthaginian domination
			Roman Times
	218 B.C.		Roman domination after the Punic Wars
	60		St. Paul shipwrecked on Malta
	395		Byzantine domination of Malta
			Under The Arabs
	870		Arabs occupy Malta
			Normans Rule & The Middle Ages
	1090		Normans occupation
	1194		Swabian occupation
	1266		Angevins occupation
	1283		Aragonese occupation
	1350		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 Occupation
	1798		Napoleon Bonaparte takes Malta from the Knights
	1799		Britain takes Malta
	1800		The French surrender
	1802		Peace of Amiens
			British Period
	1814		Malta becomes a British Crown Colony
	1914-1918		First World War
	1919		Sette Giugno riots against British rule
	1921		Amery-Milner constitution grants self-government
	1930-1939		Turbulent period of intermittent self-government
	1939-1945		Second World War
	1947		Restoration of self-government
			Modern Malta
	1964		Independence within the British Commonwealth
	1974		Malta becomes a Republic
	1979		Last British services leave Malta
	2004		Malta membership of the European Union
	2008		Malta joins the Eurozone