Malta Timeline of Events

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Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in land area, making it one of the world's smallest microstates...

Timeline of Events

1522

12.20.1522

Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.

1693

1.11.1693

Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.

1799

1.17.1799

Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.

1800

9.5.1800

Napoleon surrenders Malta to Great Britain.

1840

10.14.1840

The Maronite leader Bashir II surrenders to the British Army and then is sent into exile on the islands of Malta.

1919

6.7.1919

Sette giugno: Riot in Malta; four are killed.

1943

9.29.1943

World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign an armistice aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta.

1964

9.21.1964

Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

12.1.1964

Malawi, Malta and Zambia join the United Nations.

1974

12.13.1974

Malta becomes a republic.

1979

3.31.1979

The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).

10.15.1979

Black Monday in Malta. The Building of the Times of Malta, the residence of the opposition leader Eddie Fenech Adami and several Nationalist Party clubs are ransacked and destroyed by supporters of the Malta Labour Party.

1985

11.23.1985

Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 while en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the hijacked jetliner, but 60 people die in the raid.

1989

12.3.1989

Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the cold war between their nations may be coming to an end.

1995

10.26.1995

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.

2001

8.1.2001

Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.

2002

12.13.2002

Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.

2004

5.1.2004

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2008

1.1.2008

Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.