Malta: A Crossroad In the Middle of the Sea

What comes to your mind when you hear the word Malta? Malta is all of these: the knights of St. John found shelter on the island and ruled it for several hundred years; the tiny nation of 400,000 inhabitants occupies even tinier fortress island in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea and yes, Malta is a famous travel destination. Still, there is so much more to be discovered about Malta.

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta’ Malta), is a southern European country and consists of an archipelago situated centrally in the Mediterranean, 93 km south of Sicily and 288 km north-east of Tunisia, with the Strait of Gibraltar 1,826 km to the west and Alexandria 1,510 km to the east.
Malta covers just over 300 km² in land area, making it one of Europe’s smallest and most densely populated countries. Its de facto capital is Valletta and the largest city is Birkirkara. Maltese is the national language and a co-official language, alongside English.

The modern Maltese language is another feature of the island that leaves you wondering. It is the only Semitic language in the world written in Latin alphabet. The Tunisians and other Arabs would understand quite a bit of the local dialect. On the other hand you hear the heavy influence of Italian and English in almost every sentence. Some sources affirm the roots of the language are to be found in the Arabic rule during 9th-11th centuries.

Browsing the Maltese history pages you will got a glimpse on the most significant periods. There was a time when the Mediterranean Sea was not connected to the Atlantic ocean by the strait of Gibraltar and was an inner lake. The Maltese islands were a tip of a mountain dividing the western “Mediterranean” lake from the eastern one. The island boasts with well preserved heritage from these prehistoric times; the Neolithic temples and the UNESCO protected Hypogeum are good examples. After the colonisation by the omnipresent in the 1st Millennium BC Ancient Greeks, the commercially-savvy Phoenicians settled on the island and used it as an outpost for their commercial activities between their great colony of Cartage and Southern Italy. After the Punic wars the island became a thriving Roman province and later on fell under the control of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire.

At the end of 9th century the Arabs conquered the islands and ruled until 1090 AD with a capital Mdina. The magnificent fortress of the so-called Silent City was further fortified by the knights of St. John. They ruled the island from 1530 to 1798 and shaped the European features of Malta leaving numerous artifacts, including many Renaissance and Baroque buildings. Thanks to these gentlemen on the narrow streets of nowadays Mdina you feel like taking a stroll in a real medieval town. Following the brief invasion of the French on their way to Egypt in 1798, the island became part of the British Empire. Some of the most conspicuous traces left by the British are the left-hand driving and the English – the nations’ second official language.