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Malta in June 1798 was a fortress island of extraordinary strategic value sitting at the center of the Mediterranean, controlled for nearly three centuries by the Knights of St John, a medieval military-religious order that had long since passed its peak.

When Napoleon's fleet of over four hundred vessels appeared off Valletta on June 9, carrying more than 30,000 soldiers bound for Egypt, the Knights refused his demand to enter port with the entire convoy.

Napoleon took that refusal as his justification. He ordered a bombardment and landed troops at seven points around the island simultaneously. The Knights surrendered in three days.

Napoleon stayed in Malta from June 9 to June 19, and the ten orders he issued in that period across 98 articles represented one of the most compressed legislative campaigns in modern history.

He established a French-style republican government, divided the island into twelve municipalities each with its own governing body, and nominated twelve judges.

He abolished the nobility and the feudal system. He abolished slavery and freed all Turkish slaves held by the Knights, some of whom had been held for decades. He closed the Court of the Inquisition, which had operated on the island for over two centuries.

He expelled foreign clergy, limited the Bishop's authority to purely religious matters, and stripped the Church of much of its property. French was declared the official language, replacing Italian.

All inhabitants were granted French citizenship. Freedom of the press was declared. A civil code protecting family rights was established. Marriage became a civil rather than ecclesiastical affair.

He also decreed a complete restructuring of public education. The existing university was abolished and replaced with a central school with eight scientific chairs covering arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mechanics, navigation, and chemistry.

15 primary schools were to be founded across the island. Sixty children between nine and fourteen from Malta's wealthiest families were to be sent to Paris for their education.

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