The island of Gozo, which is part of Malta, was independent for nearly three years between 1798 and 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. This brief period is sometimes known as La Nazione Gozitana (the Gozitan Nation),[1] when Gozo was officially an independent state with King Ferdinand III of Sicily as its monarch, and with a provisional government led by Francesco Saverio Cassar who became Governor-general.