Land as a projection of power, wealth and status in 16th century Malta

Abstract

In the midst of a politico-ideological division in the Mediterranean between the Ottoman southeast and the European States in the northwest, the Order of St John established itself in the Maltese islands in 1530, acting as the governing body of the archipelago. Serfdom was long gone, and paid labour had surfaced as an economic arrangement, which enabled peasants to potentially become land owners. This did not mean it was universally reached, even though patches of lands were widely distributed among the inhabitants. Only the Church, a handful of Maltese families and the Order as the governmental institution owned sizeable territories. Fertile land was highly valued and it was essential of it to be worked. The production and exportation of Maltese cotton and cumin was a tool to cut importation expenses of cereals from Sicily, on which the population was highly reliant.