Malta

 Malta: The Country.

(The Blue Grotto in Malta.)

 

Malta is a country made of several islands in the Mediterranean Sea (50 miles from Sicily.)

It has 3 inhabited islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino.

Its Capital is Valetta and it has one airport: Malta International Airport.

Maltese (a Semitic Language) and English are the Official Languages.

It has a population of 519,000 people over 122 square miles.

It is a Member of the European Union, uses the Euro and is part of the Schengen Area.

It is also a Member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

Malta has a long history:

It has been inhabited since 5900 BC.

It was occupied by the Phoenicians from 700 BC to 218 BC.

It was occupied by the Romans from 218 BC to 533 AD.

It was occupied by the Byzantines from 533 to 870.

It was occupied by Muslims from North Africa from 870 to 1091.

It was occupied by the Norman Christians (as part of the Kingdom of Sicily) from 1091 to 1224.

It was occupied by the Aragonese from 1224 to 1529.

It was occupied by the Knights of Saint John from 1530 to 1798.

The 1^st Great Siege of Malta occurred from May 18 – September 11, 1565 when 40,000 Ottoman Turks tried to take the Islands from the 6,100 Knights Hospitaller. The Ottomans lost.

It was occupied from 1798 to 1800 by the French.

It was occupied by the British from 1800 to 1964 and became a Crown Colony.)

The 2^nd Great Siege of Malta occurred from June 11, 1940 to November 20, 1942 when the Fascist Italians and the Nazi Germans both blockaded the Mediterranean Sea around Malta to starve the Colony as well as bombing the Colony into surrendering.

The Islands were protected by the British, Australians, South Africans and Canadians on the land and in the air and by the Americans (in 1942) in the sea.

Malta was a major British Radar Station during the War that covered Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Malta was the most bombed territory of World War 2 in terms of total number of bombs dropped by the Germans and the Italians (15,000 tons of bombs on the 122 square miles of Malta om 2 years.)

Malta was nearly starved into surrendering due to the Germans destroying most of the Allied Convoy Ships carrying Food, Medicine and Fuel to Malta and Malta was about to surrender to the Germans until Operation Pedestal brought the needed supplies to the Colony in August 1942.

King George VI awarded the George Cross to the whole Colony of Malta in April 1942 for everything the Maltese suffered through (and the George Cross continues to be on the Maltese Flag.)

After the Americans and the British invaded German-Occupied North Africa and the Germans were defeated in November 1942 the Siege of Malta was lifted.

30,000 Buildings were destroyed, 2,301 Allied Airmen were killed and 1,300 Maltese Civilians were killed.

Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) lived on Malta from 1949-1951 when her Husband Prince Philip was stationed there.

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of Malta (the first and only Maltese Monarch) in 1964 when Malta became an Independent Kingdom (from 1952-1964 she ruled Malta as the British Queen.) She stopped being the Queen of Malta when Malta became a Republic in 1974.

In 1980 Malta became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In 1989, Malta was the venue of a Summit between US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, their first face-to-face encounter, which signaled the end of the Cold War.

Malta joined the EU in 2004, the Schengen Travel Area in 2007 and the Eurozone in 2008.

Today, Malta is known for its Tourism (getting 1.5 Million Visitors a year). Its Film Industry and its Science and Technology.

 

I visited Malta when I was 14 years old after convincing my 8^th Grade Class to go to Malta for Spring Break. It was a lot of fun.

I learned about Malta’s History (during my presentation to the Class to convince them to go to Malta) and had fun swimming in the pools, jumping from on hotel balcony to another to go with my Friends to skinny-dip in the Mediterranean at Midnight, etc.