History & Culture (2)

European Domination (1127-1530)
In 1091, Count Roger the Norman established a nominal suzerainty over Malta, but the Saracens remained masters paying an annual tribute. In 1127, the islands were reconquered by the Normans, who were in turn followed by the Swabians (1194), the Angevins (1266), and the Aragonese (1282). The population of Gozo — concentrated in the Citadel and Rabat — began rising steadily. A church functioning as a parish within the Citadel is recorded in 1299. The island was governed by a series of feudal lord whose sole interest was to exact the highest possible taxes from the inhabitants. The rule of the lords came to an end around 1397, when Gozo and Malta were incorporated in the royal domain. The King of Sicily appointed the local government, headed by the Hakem or Captain of the city, annually. From then onwards, the Gozitans fought hard to maintain their freedom and privileges.

Knights of St. John (1530 – 1798)
The Knights of Saint John, eventually known as Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta, were the sworn enemies of the Turks and their allies the Barbary corsairs. The order arrived in Malta in 1530 after spending over 400 years in the eastern Mediterranean. The order had started in Jerusalem as a small hospital for pilgrims. On 23 March 1530, the islands passed under the Knights of Saint John. Initially they made no improvements in Gozo and in 1551, the island suffered its worst siege in history. In July, the Turks of Sinan Pasha besieged the Citadel. The medieval walls without flanks and terreplein to resist gunpowder bombardment were easy prey to the besiegers and the fortifications soon succumbed.

A tombstone in the local cathedral conveys some of the horror in its commemoration of the nobleman Bernardo Dupuo who died fighting the Turkish pirates, after killing his own wife and daughters to save them from slavery and concubinage, two fates worse than death. The entire population of around 5000 was taken into slavery.

After the terror of 1551, recovery was slow and painful. Some Gozitan slaves were traced and ransomed, but life was shattered and families left permanently split asunder, their various members sold to different owners in far-off lands. Grand Master de le Sengle encouraged resettlement from Malta, by promising to waive the new settlers' debts of the previous four years, if they would take the risk of living in undefended territory. Others, it is said came over from nearby Sicily.

The vulnerability to pirates and slavery is the reason why villages in Gozo did not develop until the late 18th/early 19th century. Before that, the tiny population stayed close to the citadel, taking shelter within its walls between dusk and dawn, in line with a curfew order that was only lifted in 1637 and whenever there was notice of a raid by pirates. The villages remain, today, completely different in structure to those of Malta. They are open-ended and do not form the Maltese pattern of tightly winding, narrow and easily defended streets.

It was to be another 150 years before the Knights contemplated the reality of an undefended Gozo, left open to the Turks. They hurriedly built some defenses, but by then the piratical raids were easing off, until they ceased altogether in 1708.

As a result of these raids, a reluctance to communicate information creeped irremediably into the Gozitan character. As one writer recently put it in his guide to Gozo, the Gozitans have now accepted that not all tourists are direct descendants of 16th century Turkish slave-traders, and their natural wariness has eased into friendliness, though they still prefer to keep their distance.

French (1798 - 1800)
On 10 June 1798, the French under General Napoleon Bonaparte, ousted the Knights from Malta. Their rule in Gozo was short-lived. In September the people rose against the French, who, on 28 October surrendered to the Gozitans. Gozo enjoyed a short period of autonomy until 5 September 1800, when the British took the Maltese islands under their protection.

British (1800 - 1964)
Malta and Gozo became formally a British Crown Colony in 1813 and the island was slowly transformed into a fortress colony. Its resistance to the Axis bombardments during the Second World War is legendary.

Malta and Gozo became a sovereign independent state within the Commonwealth on 21 September 1864 and were declared a Republic on 13 December 1974. Though ruled from Malta from time immemorial, Gozo has had semi-autonomous governments several times in its history, the last being the Gozo Civic Council between 1961 and 1973. The island is now governed like any other part of the Maltese islands. The executive functions of the central Government are carried out through the Ministry for Gozo, established on 14 May 1987.