Albeit small Malta offers not only a kind climate but also a rich history dating back to 5200 years before Christ. For the cultured tourist Malta offers beautiful megalithic temples as well as beautiful churches and other interesting buildings.
Malta's history starts with stone-age man as the first settlers on the island. Stone age man came to Malta 5200 years before Christ. He was a cave dweller. He came from nearby Sicily. He was a farmer, fisherman and could also breed animals. He must have also been a good navigator. Even with our modern ships the stretch between Malta and Sicily is not that easy to cross, let alone crossing 93 km most probably on rafts and carrying animals as well. After the stone-age man came the copper-age man or the temple builder as he is known here in Malta. The copper age man also came from nearby Sicily. He was more artistic than his predecessor. He made beautiful pottery and also built temples from local stone, which was readily available. These monuments still stand to this day a witness to this very cultured race. This was about 3000 years before Christ. Then for approximately 200 years Malta was not inhabited. It is not known why. It could be because of some outbreak of plague or some famine. Then came the Bronze-age man. The bronze-age man was not artistic like his predecessor and instead was a fighter and made weapons. He also came from near-by Sicily. Bronze-age Man used the Tarxien Temples (built by copper-age man) as a Necropolis to cremate their dead as many urns with ashes were found in these beautiful temples. And so our pre-history comes to an end.
Then Malta got its first settlers - The Phoenicians. For a time the Phoenicians lived alongside Bronze-age man approximately 700 years before Christ. The Phoenicians did not live only on the coast but ventured inland and founded what today is known as Mdina. After the Phoenicians came the great empire builders - the Romans. It is said that Malta was much greener than it is today and it was the Phoenicians and the Romans who cut down all the trees to build their large ships. After the Romans came the Arabs in the year 870. Then came the Normans in 1090. It is said that our Maltese flag was given to the Maltese by Roger the Norman. Then came the Knights of the Order of St John in 1530. In 1798 came the French and finally in 1800 the British. The various dominations left their imprint on this tiny island. This is what accounts for Malta's rich history. In 1964 Malta became Independent and 10 years later in 1974 Malta became a Republic.