Who was Mikiel Anton Vassalli

Mikiel Anton Vassalli was born on 5^th March 1764 in Żebbuġ, Malta and died on January 12, 1829.  He was a Maltese writer, a philosopher, and a linguist who published important Maltese language books, including a Maltese-Italian dictionary, a Maltese grammar book, the Maltese Gospels and, towards the end of his life, a book on Maltese proverbs.

It was only in the 1790's that Vassalli, alone among Maltese nationalists, took an interest in purifying the language of Italianisms and reviving it as a national language.  During the nineties he published three substantial works about the Maltese language, which set the study of the Maltese language for the first time on solid and scientific foundations. These works were:

• l-Alfabett Malti (1790),
• il-Milsen (1791) - a Maltese grammar in Latin
• Ktieb il-Kliem Malti (1796) - a Maltese-Latin-Italian dictionary.

Mikiel Anton Vassalli was expelled from Malta a number of times during his life due to his political beliefs. He lived during one of the most turbulent periods of Maltese history: the final years of the Knights of St. John, the two years of Napoleonic government (1798–1800), and the first years of British rule from 1800. Besides the social disorder that was an outcome of political upheaval, there was also a deeply felt division between the social classes: the privileged class on one hand and on the other the vast majority.

The following are some of the Grade 9's charts about Vassalli, his life and works.