Crown Colony of Malta

The Crown Colony of Malta was the British colonial administration of the Maltese islands from 1813 to 1964. Malta had been ruled by the Order of Saint John from 1530 until 1798, when Napoleon's forces occupied the islands; the Maltese rose against the French and asked Britain for help, and the French garrison capitulated in 1800. Malta then became a British protectorate, although the Treaty of Amiens of 1802 obliged Britain to evacuate. On 23 July 1813 Sir Thomas Maitland was appointed governor and the islands were constituted a Crown Colony under the Bathurst Constitution; the status was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814 and by the Congress of Vienna. Maitland's early rule was autocratic and coincided with a plague that killed some 4,500 people, but he also created the Malta Police Force and reformed taxation and the courts. Valletta served as the administrative and naval centre, and during the Second World War the island endured heavy bombing and was awarded the George Cross. Malta became independent on 21 September 1964.