Review of : Devrim Atauz, A., Eight thousand years of Maltese maritime history : trade, piracy, and naval warfare in the Central Mediterranean

Abstract

For small islands and island groups, the sea plays a central role in the lives of those that inhabit them. The sea provides avenues of connectivity, by means of which people, goods and ideas can travel. Benefits from such interchanges are often countered by certain negative aspects such as destruction brought about by both natural and anthropogenic aspects such as storms and piracy. Therefore, any written history of an island or of an archipelago, be it social, economic or demographic, must take into continuous consideration the influence of the sea on the lives of the islanders. This is true for both short-term everyday happenings as well as for the long duree ´. Furthermore, such histories have to be written with islands placed within the broader schemes of political, commercial and cultural activities that surround them. The volume under review is a bold attempt to study the history of human interaction and the sea in the context of the Maltese Islands throughout the circa 8000 years since humans first occupied them. In the preface, the author states that the book will contain ‘‘a general overview of essential facts, geographic and oceanographic’’ as well of reviews of major historical texts, archaeological evidence from an underwater context and ‘‘an alternative interpretation of how the history of the archipelago evolved within a wider Mediterranean context’’. So far so good, the author clearly maps out the chronological timeframe she is to tackle, the evidence she intends to utilize as well as the context, both natural and historical, within which the book is written. This book contains 184 pages of main text and 100 of appendices. In the forward, the series editors outline the contents of this work and it is not surprising that they highlight the vast chronological span of the book with specific references to various phases of Malta’s history. However, after a quick glance of the table of contents one may observe that the author’s main focus is on the period covering the rule of the Order of St John in Malta (1530‐1798), with 100 pages dedicated to this period. On the other hand, the remainder of the 7732 years receive just 67 pages. This imbalance is a common and recurrent feature in generic volumes written by a variety of scholars treating Malta’s past.