Friends who pay attention to the peach blossom stone talk know that almost all European countries in modern times speak Indo-European languages. In all of Europe, there are only 4 countries whose Chinese are not Indo-European, and these four countries are Hungary, Finland, Estonia and Malta. There are many other articles on the relevant situation in Hungary, Finland and Estonia, and the languages of these three countries belong to the Uralic language family at the junction of Asia and Europe. But Malta is a country that probably doesn't know many friends, and the country's language can be seen as a peculiar form of Arabic. So why is the European country of Malta associated with the Arabic language? What is the history of the country? Who are the Maltese?
Malta, Europe or Arabia?
Malta is an island nation located in the Mediterranean Sea, about 182 km north of Sicily, Italy. According to modern archaeological findings, the island of Malta may have had traces of human activity as early as 7900 years ago. In 218 BC, it was occupied by the Roman Empire and became an autonomous region under the Roman province of Sicily. Later, during the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the island was occupied by several Germanic barbarians, and finally fell into the hands of the Eastern Roman Empire in 533 AD.
The Roman Empire of Malta (where the circle is drawn) was included
Beginning in the 7th century, the Arab Empire rose rapidly and soon engaged in centuries-long wars with the Eastern Roman Empire. In 870 AD, the Agrab dynasty, founded by the Arabs in North Africa, launched a months-long siege of Malta's main city of Merit, culminating in its fall on 29 August. Later, Agrab's army slaughtered and sacked the city, which led to Malta becoming an uninhabited island for almost the next 200 years.
So the real history of Malta, which has really influenced modern times, actually began around the 11th century AD. According to some historical records, in 1048 AD, some Arabs from Sicily (then also controlled by the Arabs) rebuilt Merrit and renamed it Medina, making Malta inhabited again. However, some modern archaeological studies have found that at least by the beginning of the 11th century, Media had become a relatively prosperous Arab town.
Map of Malta drawn by the Arabs in the Middle Ages
After the Arabs took control of Malta, in fact, the Eastern Romans also wanted to retake it, so between 1053 and 1054 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire launched a large-scale siege of the city of Medina, but was eventually repelled by the Arabs. Thereafter, the Eastern Roman Empire made no attempt to reoccupy Malta, and the Arabs established decades of relatively solid rule in Malta. This period of Arab rule had a permanent impact on the history of Malta, as we will elaborate on later.
But while the Arabs had a profound influence on Malta, their rule in Malta did not last long. Many of your friends have probably heard of the Norman conquest in England in 1066 AD, when the Normans, descendants of Vikings from northern France, conquered the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Not long after the Norman conquest in England, there was also a Norman conquest in Malta. These Normans came from southern Italy, arriving in southern Italy as mercenaries from France in 999 AD, and soon became self-reliant and conquered a large number of territories in southern Italy. In 1091 AD, the Normans conquered the last Arab stronghold of the city of Noto at the southern tip of Sicily.
Contains the Kingdom of Sicily of Malta
Thereafter, Ruggiero I, Norman Earl of Sicily, and his son Rugello II invaded Malta in succession, culminating in the complete destruction of Arab rule in 1127 AD, after which Malta became a Norman territory. However, after belonging to Sicily, the Arabs of Malta did not immediately disappear, but survived there for almost 100 years. But in 1224 AD, the Norman rulers forced all Muslims from North Africa to leave Malta. In 1249, the last recorded group of Maltese Muslims left Malta for Sicily, Italy, and Malta was completely incorporated into the European Christian cultural circle.
Important strategic positions, from the Knights to World War II
Since then, Malta has changed hands several times between the different feudal lords of the Kingdom of Sicily, and large numbers of people from countries such as Italy and Spain have also migrated to Malta over the centuries. By the 16th century, Malta had another important change. In 1522, the Ottoman monarch Suleiman I expelled the Knights Hospitaller, one of the three major European medieval orders, from its headquarters in Rhodes, Greece, but at that time the Holy See still relied on these knights to resist the Ottoman invasion, so 8 years later, Pope Charles V arranged a new headquarters for the Knights Hospitaller, namely Malta. Thus, in 1530 AD, a large number of members of the Knights Hospitaller from Rhodes in Greece, along with their soldiers, sailors and slaves, came to Malta. For the next 275 years, Malta remained under the control of the Knights Hospitaller, which was almost synonymous with Malta during this period, so the Knights Hospitaller was gradually renamed the Knights of Malta.
The scene of the Knights Hospitaller taking over Malta
After gaining a foothold in Malta, the Knights Hospitaller immediately took advantage of Malta's geographical location to carry out a large number of attacks and plunders on the sea shipping of the Ottoman Empire, which soon led to large-scale retaliation by the Ottoman Empire. In 1565, the Ottoman Sultan Lyman I led a siege of Malta with about 40,000 soldiers. The siege lasted a total of 4 months, and although the Ottoman army had absolute numerical superiority, it was slow to break through the defenses of the Knights of Malta and the Maltese civilians, and finally before the winter storm in September of that year, the Ottoman army was forced to retreat, and the Ottoman army gave up its attempt to conquer Malta.
Scene of Ottoman army besieging Malta
In this way, the rule of the Knights of Malta (i.e. the Knights Hospitaller) over Malta continued until the end of the 18th century. In these more than 200 years, European society has also undergone earth-shaking changes, with the rapid rise of modern armies with a large number of firearms, and the rapid decline in the value of traditional knights. In this way, Malta under the control of the Knights of Malta gradually became a weak island. Finally, on June 11, 1798, Boleheim, Grand Commander of the Order of Malta, was forced to surrender and cede the island of Malta to France in the face of the French army under Napoleon's command who had attacked Malta during the invasion of Egypt. Thereafter, the Knights of Malta as a whole moved away from the island of Malta, and in the following decades it went through several twists and turns, eventually settling in Rome, Italy.
Scene of the surrender of the Knights of Malta to the French
But French rule did not last in Malta. Although the French invaded Egypt and soon defeated the Ottoman Empire that controlled Egypt, it attracted British intervention, causing the French to fight a bitter battle under the counterattack of the British and Ottoman armies. The Maltese also launched many riots when they saw this, and the British quickly sent troops to Malta, eventually defeating the French army and capturing Malta from France.
Scene after the bombing of Malta in World War II
Thus, in 1800 AD, Malta became a British protectorate. After the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869, Malta's importance in shipping and military affairs soon became apparent, becoming the headquarters of the British Mediterranean Fleet. In the Second World War in the 20th century, Malta, which is a short distance from Italy, was also heavily bombed by the Italian Air Force, but the Italian army never failed to capture Malta. In the late Second World War, Malta's military status was once again highlighted, in 1943, US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George VI of England have visited Malta, and in the Sicily Campaign launched by the United States and British troops against the Italian mainland, the US and British troops launched an attack on Sicily from Malta. Before the Yalta Conference in 1945, Roosevelt and Churchill also went to Malta to meet and coordinate their positions before going to the Soviet Union to attend the Yalta Triumvirate.
Modern Malta
In the wave of national independence after World War II, Malta also quickly achieved self-government. Because of Malta's strategic importance, Britain did not want to abandon Malta, and at one point wanted to fully incorporate Malta into Britain. At that time, the United Kingdom had even agreed to set up seats for Malta in the British Parliament, and Malta held a referendum on February 11 and 12, 1956 to join the United Kingdom. However, due to the strong opposition to joining the UK in Malta, a large number of voters boycotted the referendum, and the referendum was eventually declared invalid because the number of voters did not reach the legal minimum turnout. After the Suez Canal crisis of October and November 1956, British attempts to regain control of the Suez Canal were a complete failure, and Britain was forced to accept the reality of losing its Asian colonies. Malta's strategic importance to Britain then declined significantly, and calls for Malta's independence rose further, culminating in Malta's independence through a referendum on 21 September 1964. In 1974, Malta abolished the monarchy of the Queen of England and transformed into a republic. Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and now has a per capita GDP of US$33,000.
The language and genetic makeup of the Maltese
As we have just mentioned, Malta is only 182 kilometers away from Sicily, Italy today, so the Arabs who came to Malta at that time mainly migrated to Malta from Sicily, so the language of Malta was actually brought by the Sicilian Arabs. Sicily was occupied by the Arabs as early as the 9th century AD, after which the Arabs established a Sicilian emirate there. Since then, a unique Arabic dialect has gradually formed in Sicily, that is, Sicilian Arabic.
A medieval map of the world painted in Sicilian Arabic
So after the Sicilian Arabs arrived in Malta, Sicilian Arabic also became the main language of Malta. This language is relatively close to the Arabic dialect popular in the Maghreb region of North Africa, and was undoubtedly a type of Arabic at that time. If Arab rule had been maintained in Malta as it has been in other parts of North Africa until modern times, Malta would undoubtedly have become a region of Arabic-speaking Arabs similar to other parts of North Africa.
But as we said earlier, Malta was conquered by the Normans in 1122 AD, so the last 900 years of Maltese history is basically part of European history, and apart from a few battles with the Ottomans, Malta can be said to have been almost unaffected by civilizations outside Europe. But it is very interesting that the language of modern Malta is still a unique language derived from Arabic.
Ancient Maltese texts
In fact, after 1249 AD, the Maltese and the Arabs of North Africa were basically completely isolated, parting ways with the Arab world, and the local language began to be deeply influenced by European languages such as Italian. During this period, Sicily, the birthplace of the Maltese language, underwent a process of de-Arabization, and the local popular language soon became a Sicilian dialect of Italian, and Sicilian Arabic, which was originally popular in the local area, soon disappeared. But on the island of Malta, Maltese, which is derived from Sicilian Arabic, unexpectedly survived.
Although with the influx of immigrants from Italy and other countries, a large number of Latin words such as Italian entered Maltese, so that almost half of the words of modern Maltese come from Italian. However, a large number of Arabic words and Arabic grammar are still retained in Maltese, and many modern studies show that one-third of the words in modern Maltese are still derived from Arabic, especially those related to the basic activities of daily life, which are still dominated by Arabic words.
Modern Maltese
A 2016 study showed that Maltese, the Arabic spoken by Tunisians in North Africa, can understand about a third of Maltese, while Tunisians can understand about 40% of Maltese. So although Maltese has been deeply influenced by the Latin language family and is no longer considered a branch of Arabic in modern times, Maltese still belongs to the Semitic language family of Asian-African languages like Arabic, and can be said to be a language very close to Arabic. The modern Maltese alphabet, written in the Latin alphabet, has become the only modern Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. Of course, the British rule over Malta for more than 100 years has also had a profound impact on Maltese society, such as the current proportion of Maltese people who speak English as high as 89%.
Malta's location in Europe
In recent years, some genetic studies have shown that about 35% of the paternal genes of Maltese people are R1 haplogroup prevalent in Western Europe, and about 28% are the Jhaplogroup of the prevalence in the Middle East and North Africa, and the paternal genes in Africa and South Asia also have a certain distribution among Maltese. To some extent, this also reflects the history of Malta, which can be said to be a unique country where European culture prevails, but the background is also extremely complex. (Image from the Internet)