Malta has a long history and has been inhabited since settlers from Sicily arrived around 5200 BC
Malta has a long history and has been inhabited since settlers from Sicily arrived around 5200 BC.[1] Malta's location has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, and a succession of powers, including the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Order of St. John, French and British, have ruled the islands. Malta became an independent state in 1964, and a republic in 1974. Since 2004 the country has been a member state of the European Union.