5000

First human settlers. Ghar Dalam Phase.

3600 - 2500

Megalithic temples constructed.

2000 - 1400

Bronze-using people.

800 - 480

Phoenician rule.

700 - 600

Greek influence.

480 - 218

Carthaginian rule.

218

Roman rule begins during the 2nd Punic War.

60 

Shipwreck of St. Paul the Apostle.

117-138 

Islands become municipium under Emperor Hadrian.

395-870 

Byzantine rule.

870-1090 

Arab rule.

1091-1194 

Norman rule.

1154-1205 

Genoese influence.

1194-1266 

Swabian rule.

1266-1283 

Angevin rule.  Creation of the Universita' (body of administration and not academic institution).

1283-1412 

Aragonese rule.

1412-1530 

Aragonese and Castilian rule.

1530          

Knights of St. John take possession

1551 

Dragut, prominent Turkish corsair, raids Gozo.

1561 

Inquisition officially established.

1565 

Great Siege. Malta besieged by Turks but the Knights helped by the Maltese resist and win.

1566 

Founding of Valletta, the new capital city named after Grand Master La Valette, hero of the Great Siege.

1676 

School of Anatomy and Surgery founded at the Sacred Infirmary, the Knight's hospital in Valletta.

1732 

Manoel Theater dedicated.

1792 

Possessions of the Knights of St. John  located in France seized by the French revolutionary government.

1798

 

A French army under Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Maltese Islands on its way to Egypt. The Knights of St. John expelled after 268 years in Malta. Inquisition abolished.

1798
 

The Maltese revolt against the French when these confiscate property belonging to the Maltese Church. The French take refuge behind the walls of Valletta and Cottonera and a  two-year siege begins.

1799 

The British take the islands under their protection in the name of the King of Two Sicilies. 

 1800 

The French surrender

1800 

The French capitulate. British rule begins.

1974

1979

British forces leave the island

2004 

Malta Joins European Union