Why go
The French period is short but clarifies the break between the Knights and British rule. In Valletta, Palazzo Parisio and the harbour setting make the events easier to place. The story also shows why administrative reform and religious conflict could unfold at the same time.
The full story
Napoleon captured Malta in 1798 while travelling to Egypt, ending the Knights’ rule. He entered after requesting safe harbour to resupply his fleet, and stayed briefly at Palazzo Parisio in Valletta before leaving a French garrison behind. His administration moved quickly: it established new bodies of government, twelve municipalities and a public finance system, abolished feudal privileges and slavery, and reorganised courts and education. Those reforms did not settle the islands. French hostility towards Catholic institutions and the plundering of churches to support the war made the occupation deeply unpopular. Maltese resistance drew support from Britain, Naples and Sicily, while the British navy blockaded the islands. French forces surrendered in 1800. When you visit Valletta and its harbours, this compressed episode explains why the city’s Knights-era fabric also belongs to a wider story of revolution, revolt and the beginning of British control.