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The history of Sicily has been influenced by numerous ethnic groups. ... Sicily joined with Calabria to form the Byzantine Theme of Sicily. [17] Muslim period
The Maltese Islands had formed part of the county, and later the Kingdom of Sicily, since 1091. The feudal relationship between Malta and the Kingdom of Sicily was continued throughout the rule of the Knights, until the French occupation of Malta in 1798.
The kingdom was formed when the Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples, which was officially also known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Since both kingdoms were named Sicily, they were collectively known as the "Two Sicilies" ( Utraque Sicilia , literally "both Sicilies"), and the unified kingdom adopted this name.
Sicily (Italian: Sicilia, Italian: [siˈtʃiːlja] ⓘ; Sicilian: Sicilia, Sicilian: [sɪˈ(t)ʃiːlja] ⓘ), officially Sicilian Region (Italian: Regione siciliana), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy.
Ever since its reconquest from the Ostrogoths by Belisarius in 535–536, Sicily had formed a distinct province under a praetor, while the army was placed under a dux. [2] [3] A strategos (military governor) is attested on the island in Arab sources between 687 and 695, and it is at that time that the island was probably made into a theme.
Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano located at the eastern coast of Sicily which is composed mainly of basalt. Its formation began at about 0.5 Ma when submarine volcanism occurred at the Gela foredeep and formed tholeiitic pillow lava. At about 0.3 Ma, a tholeiitic lava plateau was formed on an ancient alluvial plain by fissure-type volcanism.
The first Greek colonies were founded in eastern Sicily in the 8th century BC when the Chalcidian Greeks founded Zancle, Naxos, Leontinoi and Katane; in the south-east corner the Corinthians founded Syracuse and the Megareans Megara Hyblaea, while on the western coast the Cretans and Rhodians founded Gela in 689 BC, with which the first Greek colonisation of Sicily ended.
Sicily during the first Punic War between Rome and Carthage (264–241 BC) Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse from 317 and King of Sicily from 307 or 304 BC, died in 289 BC.A group of his Campanian mercenaries, called the Mamertines, were offered compensation in exchange for leaving the city.