Malta is a region of great historical interest. Remains of late Stone Age and Bronze Age men have been found here. The Phoenicians colonised Malta in about 1000 BC. Temples, tombs, and other relics of the Phoenicians still stand. Next Malta was conquered by the Romans. According to tradition. Saint Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked near Malta about AD 60 and converted the inhabitants to Christianity. By the mid-ninth century, all of North Africa was under the spell of the forces of Islam and it was inevitable that Malta would also fall to this great new world power. In 870 it did. Like the Romans before them, the Arabs felt no need to ravage the island and indeed proved to be tolerant rulers. Malta passed to the Norman kings of Sicily around 1090. Around 1520, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V inherited the area and gave Malta to the Knights of the Order of Saint John. The knights wore the Maltese cross as their badge. In 1565 the Turks laid siege with great naval and military forces. Though heavily outnumbered, the Knights held out against the Muslims for months, and, finally, defeated them.