Malta: A Traveller's Anthology : Signal Books : 9781909930575 : 1909930571 : 02 Aug 2017 : Few countries are as marked by their history as the Maltese islands of Malta and Gozo. At least five centuries before St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta's northern shore on his way to Rome and martyrdom, what are perhaps the oldest stone buildings in the world were raised here. Always vulnerable due to their strategic position in the Mediterranean, the islands have been invaded and occupied by successive forces: Greeks, Romans, Muslims from North Africa, Normans and Spaniards. In the sixteenth century Malta became the stronghold of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, who built the city of Valletta. The Knights were succeeded by Napoleonic troops, then by the British, who remained until independence in 1964. Each period of Malta's turbulent history not least its heroic role during the Second World War has added to its rich cultural fabric. And each period has produced its own literature, which is