History of Malta

Uncommon card · No. 107812

Malta has been inhabited since 6400 BC initially by Mesolithic hunter gatherers, who were replaced by Neolithic farmers from Sicily around 5400 BC. These farmers practiced mixed farming after clearing most of the existing conifer forest that dominated the islands, but their agricultural methods degraded the soil until the islands became uninhabitable. The islands were repopulated around 3850 BC by a civilization that, at its peak, built the Megalithic Temples, which today are among the oldest surviving buildings in the world. Their civilization collapsed in around 2350 BC; the islands were repopulated by Bronze Age people soon afterwards. Malta's prehistory ended around 700 BC, when the islands were colonized by the Phoenicians. They ruled the islands until they fell in 218 BC to the Roman Republic. The island was acquired by the Eastern Romans or Byzantines in the 6th century AD, who were expelled by Aghlabids following a siege in 870 AD. Malta may have been sparsely populated for a few...

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