It has been inhabited since approximately 5900 BC. Its
location in the center of the Mediterranean has historically given it great
strategic importance as a naval base.
A succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, French and British. Most of these foreign influences have left some sort of mark on the country's ancient culture.
(to be continued)
