On the 6th July, 1614, exactly 419 years ago, the Maltese Islands experienced the last of the terror inflicted upon them by the Ottoman Empire.

Soldiers from the Ottoman empire tried to attack Marsaxlokk and all its surrounding areas but were soon pushed away by the Knights of Saint John.

The fleet, under the command of Khalil Pasha tried to enter Marsaxlokk Bay but thanks to the newly-built St. Lucian Tower, the knights spotted them and they were attacked by the tower’s canon.

Nonetheless, 5,000 soldiers still managed to make it to Malta through St Thomas’ Bay. Many tried to protect themselves by hiding in Isla’s and Birgu’s fortification yet the Ottomans still managed to attack the villages of Zabbar and Zejtun.  

Here, they lit everything on fire and even pillaged the churches of Our Lady of Graces together with the church of Saint Gregory. In fact, there’s a plaque in Saint Gregory’s church to commemorate this event.

The attack by the knights of St. John and the Maltese militiamen was imminent and many Ottoman soldiers were killed and captured.

They then tried to sail to Saint Paul’s Bay but the recently built Wignacourt Tower was prepared to take them and ruined their attack.

The Ottoman fleet had not given up just yet and instead sailed to Mellieha where they entered the island through Ghadira Bay and set fire to many farms and fields in the area. They even went as far as violating the Sanctuary of Our Lady.

This lead to the approval of further coastal towers. In fact, by 1659, 23 more towers had been constructed all across the islands, preventing further Ottoman empire attacks.

The Ottoman Empire had been terrorising and raiding Malta and other Mediterranean settlements for the majority of the 16^th century. They wanted to take slaves for them to be sold off and therefore make their empire a richer one. However, thankfully this was their last major attack.

Such an attack left a huge cultural impact of Malta and in fact the prolific Maltese writer, Trevor Zahra even wrote a play about in 1996.

Facebook/Combat Archives & Facebook/Ottoman Imperial Archives