As the ridge was pushed up and the Strait of Gibraltar closed through tectonic activity, the sea level was lower, and Malta was on a bridge of dry land that extended between the two continents, surrounded by large lakes.

[3][2] These first Neolithic people have generally been assumed to have arrived from Sicily (about 80 kilometres or 50 miles north),[citation needed] but DNA analysis shows that they originated from different parts of the Mediterranean, including both Europe and Africa.

[citation needed] The farming methods degraded the soil; at the same time prolonged drought set in, and the islands became too dry to sustain agricultural practices.

[3] Research carried out as part of the FRAGSUS project, comprising analysis of soil cores from valleys, which contained ancient pollen and animal evidence from past environments, revealed that "climate change fluctuations made Malta uninhabitable in some periods of prehistory.

Among the most interesting and mysterious remnants of this era are the so-called cart ruts as they can be seen at a place on Malta called Misraħ Għar il-Kbir (informally known as Clapham Junction).

[6] Phoenicians—possibly from Tyre—began to colonize the islands around the early 8th century BC[citation needed][dubious – discuss], using it as an outpost from which they expanded sea exploration and trade in the Mediterranean.

Livy reports the commander of the Punic garrison on the Island surrendered without resistance to Tiberius Sempronius Longus, one of the two consuls for that year, who was on his way to North Africa.

Its size grew to its maximum extent, occupying the entire area of present-day Mdina and large parts of Rabat, extending to what is now St Paul's Church.

During the Byzantine period, the main settlements remained the city of Melite on mainland Malta and the Citadel on Gozo, while Marsaxlokk, Marsaskala, Marsa and Xlendi are believed to have served as harbours.

The Christian continuity thesis had a revival in 2010 following the publication of Tristia ex Melitogaudo by Stanley Fiorini, Horatio Vella and Joseph Brincat, who challenged Wettinger's interpretation based on a line of a Byzantine poem (which later appeared to have been mistranslated).

Wettinger subsequently reaffirmed his thesis, based on sources from the Arab historians and geographers Al Baqri, Al-Himyarī, Ibn Hauqal, Qazwini, who all seemed to be in agreement that "the island of Malta remained after that a ruin without inhabitants" – thus ruling out any continuity whatsoever between the Maltese prior to 870 and after.

This is also consistent with Joseph Brincat’s finding of no further substrata beyond Arabic in the Maltese language, a very rare occurrence which may only be explained by a drastic lapse between one period and the following.

[30] Even in 1175, Burchard, bishop of Strasbourg, an envoy of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, had the impression, based upon his brief visit to Malta, that it was exclusively or mainly inhabited by Muslims.

[40] By the end of the 15th century, all Maltese Muslims would be forced to convert to Christianity and had to find ways to disguise their previous identities by Latinizing or adopting new surnames.

Fifteen primary schools were founded and the university was replaced by an ’Ecole centrale’ in which there were eight chairs, all very scientific in outlook: notably, arithmetic and stereometry, algebra and stereotomy, geometry and astronomy, mechanics and physics, navigation, chemistry, etc.

Throughout the 19th century, the British administration instituted several liberal constitutional reforms[45] which were generally resisted by the Church and the Maltese elite who preferred to cling to their feudal privileges.

The last quarter of the century saw technical and financial progress in line with the Belle Époque: The following years saw the foundation of the Anglo-Egyptian Bank (1882) and the beginning of operation of the Malta Railway (1883); the first definitive postage stamps were issued in 1885, and in 1904 tram service began.

"[57] Despite these words, the accuracy of Italian bombers improved after repeated attempts, causing a great deal of devastation to both military and civilian infrastructure in Malta.

However, these raids proved ineffective to the Axis siege efforts, as any damage incurred was eventually repaired before a new wave of bombers could launch bombing runs over the islands.

In part it read: "Under repeated fire from the skies, Malta stood alone and unafraid in the centre of the sea, one tiny bright flame in the darkness – a beacon of hope for the clearer days which have come.

Mifsud fainted after delivering a very passionate defence against the deportation to concentration camps in Uganda of Enrico Mizzi and 49 other Italian Maltese accused of pro-Italian political activities.

After the MLP's electoral victory in 1955, in December Round Table Talks were held in London, on the future of Malta, namely the Integration proposal put forward by Mintoff.

A UK integration referendum was held on 11 and 12 February 1956, in which 77.02% of voters were in favour of the proposal,[63] but owing to a boycott by the Nationalist Party and the Church, only 59.1% of the electorate voted, thereby rendering the result inconclusive.

[62] In addition, the decreasing strategic importance of Malta to the Royal Navy meant that the British government was increasingly reluctant to maintain the naval dockyards.

Political tensions increased, notably on Black Monday, when following an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister, the premises of the Times of Malta were burned and the house of the Leader of Opposition was attacked.

[69] These closer ties with Libya meant a dramatic new (but short-lived) development in Maltese foreign policy: Western media reported that Malta appeared to be turning its back on NATO, the UK, and Europe generally.

[72] History books were published that began to spread the idea of a disconnection between the Italian and Catholic populations, and instead tried to promote the theory of closer cultural and ethnic ties with North Africa.

In 1980 an oil rig of the Italian company Saipem commissioned by Texaco to drill on behalf of the Maltese government 68 nautical miles south-east of Malta had to stop operations after being threatened by a Libyan gunboat.

Notwithstanding the President of the Republic's preference for a negotiated solution, all attempts proved futile, and he had no other option but to accept Sant and his government's resignation and a call for early elections.

Following evidence of implication between Joseph Muscat's close circle and the arrest of Yorgen Fenech, a long series of protests on the islands and international criticism precipitated the 2019–2020 political crisis.