Malta - History

Malta (Melita, or ‘Honey Island’, in Latin) was colonised from Carthage during the 6th century BC. Through its long history, it has been subject to complex influences, as shown by its language: the Maltese language descends from Punic, with an Arabic element.

According to tradition, Hannibal was born in Malta (247 BC). From 216 BC the country was under Roman (Byzantine from AD 395) administration until captured by the Arabs in AD 870. In 1070 it became a Sicilian possession. By 1530 it belonged to the Holy Roman Emperor, who gave it to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, with a mandate to defend Tripoli against Turkish invasion. Building began on Valletta and its fortifications in 1565 after an unsuccessful Turkish siege. Sixteenth-century Malta was prosperous as a trading centre but by the early 18th century the island’s fortunes had declined.

The French army under Bonaparte captured it in June 1798, and used it as a base to invade Egypt, but the garrison was expelled by the British navy in 1800 and the island came under British administration. A move to return it to the Knights of St John (1802) provoked a petition from the inhabitants for British protection, and Malta became British under the Treaty of Paris (1814). Malta prospered as a freeport, used by British shipping to the Adriatic and the Near East. In 1827 it became the base of the British Mediterranean Fleet. A packet service was established in 1832. After the Suez Canal was opened (1869) the volume of shipping increased. By 1905 the Naval Dockyard, together with British defence services, was the basis of the economy. Blockaded and attacked from the air during the Second World War, Malta was awarded the George Cross in 1942 by King George VI.

Demand for independence (though not representation) came relatively late to Malta, which had benefited from the UK naval presence on the island. In the mid-1950s Dom Mintoff’s Labour Party, then in government, inclined towards integration with the UK. This was confirmed by a referendum in 1956. In March 1962 Malta became internally self-governing.

However, by the early 1960s, with nationalism and anti-colonialism sweeping the world, coupled with the decline of the UK navy, the mood had changed. The Labour Party, as well as Dr Borg Olivier’s Nationalist Party, campaigned for independence, which was achieved in September 1964.

At independence, Malta entered a turbulent period. The dockyard was nationalised in 1968. Malta became a republic at the end of 1974 and in 1979 the UK military base was closed, which shook the economy, and traditional Maltese faith in UK protection.

Domestically, the country was polarised between the generally socialist Malta Labour Party (MLP) and the pro-western and economically liberal Nationalist Party (PN). Under the long and forceful leadership of Mintoff, the MLP government made Malta a strong adherent of the Non-Aligned Movement and strengthened cultural and trade links with Malta’s North African neighbours, notably oil-rich Libya.

Political conflict was exacerbated by anomalies in the electoral system, which allowed the MLP to retain power after the 1981 parliamentary elections, although the PN had more votes. After strikes and civil unrest, Mintoff’s successor, Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici reformed the electoral system (1987), and the May 1987 elections were won by the PN, under Dr Edward Fenech-Adami, who reversed many of Mintoff’s centralist policies.

The PN led by Fenech-Adami strengthened its majority at the general election in 1992, gaining 34 out of 65 seats, and 51.8% of the votes. A third party, the Democratic Alternative, with strong policies on environmental protection, emerged, but the basic two-party pattern remained fairly intact.

After this second defeat under the electoral system he had introduced, Bonnici resigned as leader of the MLP and was replaced by Dr Alfred Sant, who pledged to modernise Labour’s policies.

Malta became a member of the EU in May 2004.