Phoenecians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans and Spanish in turn ruled the island of Malta. In 1530, Malta was handed to the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. These Knights were a military and religious order who, for more than two centuries, made the island their headquarters. By the end of the eighteenth century, Britain and France vied for world supremacy and the power of the Knights waned. In 1798, a French fleet under Napoleon Bonaparte arrived off Malta and demanded the right to water. The Grandmaster allowed only four ships at a time to enter the Grand Harbour; Bonaparte took this as a refusal and invaded.
Although the Knights had once dominated the central Mediterranean, they put up little resistance. As Spain was allied to France, the Spanish knights refused to fight and the island fell. The French stole all the treasure they could, loaded it onto a battleship named L’Orient and sailed to Egypt, leaving a few thousand men as a garrison. The Maltese rose in rebellion and requested help from Great Britain. After a long siege, Captain Alexander Ball helped the Maltese dispose of the French and re-take the island; there was a request to take Malta under British protection and the Union Flag fluttered over the Valletta Ramparts for the next 170 years.