AD 60	The seed of Christianity was sown in the Maltese Islands when Apostle of Christ, Saint Paul, and the Evangelist, Saint Luke, were shipwrecked off our coast on their way to Rome.
480	With the division of the Roman Empire, Malta experienced Byzantine rule.
869	Arab conquest of Malta and Gozo.
circa 1090	Norman Conquest. An army of Normans, under the leadership of Count Roger of Hauteville, crossed over from Sicily to free Malta from Arab rule. This started the Feudal era in Malta and Gozo.
1240	A Census carried out during the reign of Frederick II, held by the Abbot Gilbert of Catania, found a population of 1,119 families in the Maltese archipelago; 756 in Malta and 366 in Gozo. Malta: Christians 47 Saracens 681 Jews 25 -- population 753 families Gozo: Christians 203 Saracens 155 Jews 8 -- population 366 families
1420	Malta, Gozo and their islands were mortgaged by King Alfonso of Spain to feudal lord Antonio Cardona, marking a dark era in Maltese history.
20th June, 1428	The Magna Charta Liberatis was issued by King Alphonsus I, redeeming the Maltese Islands from the oppression of those to whom the archipelago had been mortgaged. This bill of rights, however, was short lived and was ignored many a time by subsequent rulers.
24th March, 1530	Charles V of Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor, conceded Malta to the sovereign Order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, following their defeat against the Ottoman forces in Rhodes.
1530	This first Census under the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem showed a population of circa 25,000 people in Malta and 4,659 in Gozo.
1555	The Turkish siege of Gozo; the Citadel fell and able-bodied men were taken into slavery.
8th Sept 1565	In The Great Siege, during the rule of Grand Master La Vallette, the Maltese Islands were assailed by a strong Ottoman fleet. This time, however, the Order of S. John was not driven away from its sanctuary; Malta withstood the siege until the invader withdrew.
1768	The Jesuit Order was expelled from Malta.
8th Sept 1775	In the years following the nation's triumph over the besieging Ottoman fleet, the Maltese people felt the contempt of the Order decadent behaviour. Popular riots, known as "L-Irvell tal-Qassisin", were rallied by Dun Gejtan Mannarinu, a young priest to oblige the Grand Master to restore the nation's rights.
1777	Grand Master de Rohan (1775-97) formally nullified the People's Council, or 'Consiglio Popolare' as it was formally known (by its Italian name).
9th June 1798	French galleons appeared on Malta's horizons, on their way to Egypt. Europe's leading general, Napoleon Bonaparte, requested permission to enter Malta's Grand Harbour for water supplies -- a stratagem to take over the islands which he
18th June 1798	The Order of Saint John was expelled from Malta by the French Republican forces of Napoleon Buonaparte.
4th Sept 1798	The first gathering of Congress, formerly the People's Council, which had been abolished by Grand Master de Rohan.
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1798	Abolition of the Holy Inquisition following French occupation of Malta.