Due to its strategic location in the heart of the Mediterranean, Malta’s history is one defined by a series of foreign rulers, significant conflicts and international trade. Inhabited since pre-history, along the centuries Malta was Phoenician, Punic, Roman, Arab, Norman, Byzantine, belonged to the Order of the Knights of St. John, the French and was under British rule for 150 years before becoming the independent island state it is today.
All these civilizations left behind their own traditions, beliefs and cultures that were inherited by the Maltese and passed down the generations. Nowadays, Malta is often described as a melting pot of culture and history in its own right, where all the diverse elements meet, mix and melt into one another to become the unique Maltese character.