ABSTRACT
Malta was an important cultic center for earth-mother worship in the 4th millennium B.C. Archeological work shows a developed religious center there, including the world’s oldest free-standing architecture, predating that of Sumer and Egypt. The Phoenicians, and later the Carthaginians, established ports and trading settlements on the island. During the second Punic War (218 B.C.), Malta became part of the Roman Empire. Over the years, the power of the Knights declined, and their rule of Malta ended with their peaceful surrender to Napoleon in 1798. The people of Malta rose against French rule, which lasted two years, and with the help of the British evicted them in 1800. In 1814, Malta voluntarily became part of the British Empire. Malta obtained independence on September 21, 1964, became a Republic on December 13, 1974. The Geographical Section, General Staff of the British Army in World War II established a Maltese Lambert Zone.
