Knights of Malta and Napoleon
In 1530 Charles I of Spain gave the islands to the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in perpetual lease. These knights, a military religious order now known as the Knights of Malta, had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522. They withstood a full-blown siege by the Ottoman Turks in 1565, at the time the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean. The knights, fighting alongside the Maltese, were victorious and speaking of the battle Voltaire said, "Nothing is more well known than the siege of Malta".
After this they decided to increase Malta's fortifications, particularly in the inner-harbour area, where the new city of Valletta, named in honour of Grand Master Jean de la Valette, was built. They also built watchtowers along the coasts - the Wignacourt, Lascaris, and de Redin towers - named after the Grand Masters who ordered the work. The Knights' presence on the island saw the completion of many architectural and cultural projects, including the embellishment of Città Vittoriosa, the construction of new cities including Città Rohan and Città Hompesch and the introduction of new academic and social resources.
The Knights' reign ended when Napoleon captured Malta on the way to Egypt during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1798. As a ruse, Napoleon asked for safe harbour to resupply his ships and then turned his guns against his hosts once safely inside Valletta. Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim capitulated and Napoleon stayed in Malta for a few days, during which time he systematically looted the movable assets of the island and established an administration controlled by his nominees. He then sailed for Egypt, leaving a substantial garrison in Malta.
The occupying French forces were deeply unpopular with the Maltese, due particularly to their negative attitude towards religion. Their financial and religious reforms did not go down well with the citizens and the Maltese rebelled, forcing the French to take cover behind the city fortifications. Great Britain, along with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, sent ammunition and aid to the Maltese and Britain also sent her navy, which blockaded the islands.
The isolated French forces, under General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois, surrendered in 1800 and the island became a British Dominion, presented by several Maltese leaders to Sir Alexander Ball. The Maltese people created a Declaration of Rights in which they demanded to come "under the protection and sovereignty of the King of the free people, His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". The Declaration also stated that "his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power...if he chooses to withdraw his protection, and abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, and without control."