Here’s A Casual Throwback To When Gozo Was Actually An Independent State
While Gozo might show up as an independent state on Instagram by mistake, there was a time when Malta’s tiny sister actually was its own island. This one’s a pretty intense throwback… 219 years in the making.
Gozo was independent for nearly three years, between 28th October 1798 and 20th August 1801, around the French Revolutionary Wars. With King Ferdinand III of Sicily as its monarch and governor-general Saverio Cassar leading its provisional government, the island was known as La Nazione Gozitana (The Gozitan Nation).
The tiny island formed part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a collaborative effort between the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples… including some other territories like little old Gozo.
Interestingly, Comino wasn’t part of all this, which leads us to believe that the little spit of rock between Malta and Gozo really is the poor child of a geographical divorce thousands of years in the making.
So how did Gozo end up independent for a couple of years?
Until 10th June 1798, both Malta and Gozo had been administered by the Order of Saint John. That summer, the French took control of the islands by establishing garrisons in various locations in Malta, including the Cittadella and Fort Chambray in Gozo.
Word of the popular Mdina revolts that September spread to the island, and one day later, on 3rd September 1798, the Gozitans also revolted against their French rulers.
By 28th October, thanks to Sir Alexander Bell, negotiations were made between the French garrison (which had held out in the Cittadella and Fort Chambray) and the rebels, who had established their headquarters in the Banca Giuratale (which is now the seat of the Victoria Local Council).
The 217 French soldiers that were left agreed to surrender without a fight, and just like that, the island’s fortifications, 24 cannons, a large quantity of ammunition and 3,200 sacks of flour went from the French, to the British to the Gozitans in just over 24 hours. The island flew the Neapolitan flag (later the flag of the Two Sicilies), declared Ferdinand III of Sicily as their monarch, and the rest was history.
This carried on uninterrupted up till September 1800, when the French garrison back in Valletta surrendered. At this point, Malta became a British Protectorate, and it was only a matter of time until Gozo followed suit.
Saverio Cassar, who had been appointed the governor-general of the provisional government, continued to rule Gozo independently until 20th August 1801, when British Civil Commissioner Charles Cameron removed him from the position. Four years later, Cassar died at the age of 58.
Cassar’s successor, Emmanuel Vitale (another leader of the Maltese insurrection), died 14 months after taking up the post.
So yeah, jokes might constantly be made about Gozo being its own island with legit claims for independence, but for 1,056 days two centuries ago, it really was.
Tag a Gozitan friend!
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