Medina, the former capital of the island, noW known -as Citta Veechia, or Notabile, is a handsome old town, lyinc, inland; it contains the ancient,palace of the grand masters of the order of St. Jolin, the cathedral, a College, and is still. the seat of the bishopric. Pop. 7,000. Its rival and Successor is Valetia (q.v.). The numerous casals or villages scattered throughout Malta and Gozo are.nearly, built, and generally' present " an aspect of industry and frugal happiness, It is thought by some that Malta was the Hyperrin or Ogygia of Homer, but there is little doubt that the Phenicians colonized the island at a, very early date, probably in the 16th c: B.C. Before they vvere dispossessed by the Greeks in 736 B.c., they had, developed considerable commerce. The Greeks called the island Nelitas, and were driven out by the CarthagInians about 500 B.C. As early as the first Punic war, it was plundered by the Romans, but did not come finally into their possession until 242 B.c. They valued it highly, on account of its use as a commercial entrepet; and also for its cotton and linen cloths, fabrics then, as now, manufactured of wonderful fineneSs by the Maltese. The island remained under its old laivs, governed by a proprTtor, subject to the prmtor of Sicily. On the n. coast is the port of St.' Paul, and here tradition fixes the wreck of the ship carrying that apostle to Rome., On. the diviSion of the empire, :Malta followed the fortunes of the eastern division. During the 5th o. it 'fell suceessively under the Vandals and Goths, whose barbarism nearly annihilated its commerce. In 533 Belismins recoV ered 3falta to the Byzantine empire, in nominal union with which it remained- for more than three centuries; but its prosperity had departed, and its civilization almost vanished amid constant local feuds. In 870 the Arabs destroyed the Greek power in Malta, and fortified the harbor as a station for their corsairs. Count Roger, of Sicily, drove out .the Arabs in 1090, and established a popular council for the governMent of the island, com posed of nobles, clergy, and elected representatives of the people. This council, in a more or less modified form, subsisted for 700 years. Under a marriage-contract, Malta passed to the German emperor, who constituted it a marquisate, but it had 'Ceased to be a place of trade, and was merely a garrison of more expense than value. Charles of Anjou, after overrunning Sicily, made himself master of Malta, which clung to the French even after they had been expelled from Sicily; but after a time the houses of Aragon and Castile successively held the island. Subsequently, the emperor Charles V. took possession of Malta, and, in 1530, granted it, with Gozo and Tripoli, in perpetual sovereignty to the knights of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, from whom the Turks had recently captured their great stronghold at RhodeS. The knights raised by degrees the stupendous fortifications which render Malta so powerful, and, moreover, spent their large income in beautifying the island in every way. Meanwhile, they rendered incessant services to Christendom in the chastisement of the ferocio'us Barbary- pirates. To revenge these acts, the Turks brought immense forces against 3Ialta in 1557, and again in 1565. The latter siege was carried on by the sultan Solyman himself, with. the flower of the Ottoman army; but the grand master La Valette opposed a heroic resist ance, and he was forced to re-embark with the loss of more than 25,000 of his best troops. The defenders lost 260 knights and 7,000 Maltese soldiers; and their gallantry wa.s the theme of admiration throughout the world. After this siege the knights built Valetta. In 1571 they, with the Maltese, behaved most courageously at the battle of Lepanto, where the Turks lost 30,000 men. Though waging perpetual war with the 3Ioslem, the knights
continued in possession of Malta until 1798, when overcome by Bonaparte's treachery', and disorganized by internal quarrels, the order surrendered their noble fortresses to the French. After pillage and infamous treatment by the republican forces, the Maltese rose in a few mouths against their oppressors, and after a siege of two years, British auxilia ries arriving, the French garrison of Valetta capitulated to the English gen. Pigot. The treaty of Amiens stipulated that Malta should be restored to the knights of St. John; but the 3Ialtese loudly protested against such an arrangement, and preferred the peaceful government of Great Britain. The British government consequently refuced to make the transfer, appreciating also, doubtless, the vast value of their new possession, and Napoleon made the refusal one of his grounds for the resumption of hostilities. The con gress of Vienna recognized Malta as a British dependency, the condition in which it has since remained.
In 1874 3Ialta and Gozo, with the adjacent islands, together contained 145,599 inhab itants (including the British residents and foreigners, but excluding the military, who numbered 6,611). The population was increasing rapidly, but the annual rate of increase had declined from 1858. The upper classes speak Italian, but the real language of the people is a patois compounded from many sources, as must be expected from so check ered a history. Arabic, however, so far predominates that the Maltese find little difficulty in communicating with the Barbary peasants. It is alleged by some that the :Maltese lan guage--if its Italian and Gerrnan elernents were eliminated—would remain almost pure Punic, and would accurately represent the speech of Carthage at the time of its destruc tion. The religion of the people is strictly Roman Catholic, and, considering that the British flag waves over the island, but a scanty toleration is granted to other forms of faith. There are good provisions for education; a college at Valetta, where degrees are conferred in divinity, law, and physic; 65 public schools, with 8,324 pupils, besides 114 private places for education. There is also an excellent public library, free to all.
The commandant of the garrison is governor, and is aided in the civil government by a council of 16 members, of whom 8 are officials, and 8 are freely elected. The rev enue amounted, in 1874, to £175,073, while the amount of the expenditure was £161,734. Customs and excise, with a few assessed taxes, provide the former; the latter Is absorbed in the charges of the civil government, and in a contribution of £6,200 towards the mili tary expenditure. On the other hand, Great Britain maintains a considerable force in the islands, mainly for imperial purposes, at a cost of about £370,000 a year. Besides a large body of British artillery, the garrison includes the royal Malta fencible artillery, a fine native regiment of 639 officers and men. There is au extensive arsenal, and a very important dock-yard, Malta being the headquarteis of the British fleet in the Mediterra nean. Taken altogether, Malta is a possession the British highly value; it is nearly, if not quite, as strong as Gibraltar, and far more useful.
The public debt amounted, in 1875, to £268,248, at a very low rate of interest. In 1875 the vessels which entered and cleared the port, exclusive of the coasting-trade and steamers, had a total tonnage of 4,832,000 tons. Of this total about 4,000,000 tons are set down as representing British vessels. In the same year, the total value of the imports amounted to £10,325,000; while the exports were estimated at a total of £9,500,000—corn en, route from Russia for the United Kingdom figuring very largely in the transactions.