Today Malta is a popular tourist destination. Among the sights that you should have seen built in the 16th century cathedral "St. John" in which are buried about 400 members of the Order, Grand Master's Palace, the National Library and many others.
Malta is one of the smallest and most densely populated country.
Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean Sea, about 93 km. south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya. Although the archipelago is part of the African continental plate in terms of cultural and historical heritage of
Malta is entirely
European. In 2004 the country became the first and only member of the
European Union, which is the official language of the Semitic language family.
About 98 percent of the population in
Malta are Christian Catholics. The country of
Malta has a population of 412,966 people according to a study from 2010, has over 360 churches. The Bible tells how on his way to Rome where he should be tried, St. Paul suffered shipwreck on the Mediterranean island, where he stayed about three months. During this time the saint cared for the sick on the island. Scientists say the island was
Malta happened in the Gulf, which today is known as "Saint Paul".
Here the climate is subtropical Mediterranean with mild winters and warm summers. Rain rain mainly in winter. The average temperature is around 22-23 ° C during the day and 15 ° C overnight. January is the coldest month of the year. The temperatures reach 12 ° C during the day and 7 ° C overnight. Summer starts in mid-April and end of November, although in the coming months, temperatures sometimes reach 20 ° C.
Territory of
Malta covers 316 sq. km. Schools are only the three largest islands of the archipelago - Malta, Gozo and Comino, and the smaller islands are uninhabited. The capital Valletta and frequent Valletta, was founded in 1566 by Jean de Parisi Valletta, Grand Master of the Order. The city is located on the largest islands -
Malta. According to a study the city's population in 2005 numbered about 6315 people.
As the knights had large financial resources at this time to build the city took a loan from the Roman Pope Pius and the Spanish King Philip. Valletta is the first
city in history of
Malta and the world, which was built on the principle of the grid of streets. This allowed the fresh sea air to circulate freely in the streets and make them cool during warm days.
The
city has hundreds of architectural monuments, making it one of the richest in terms of architecture in
Europe. In 1980 he was included in the List of
World Heritage by UNESCO.
Strategic location, which occupies
Malta in the Mediterranean in January made it desirable for many conquerors. Around 700 years BC around the area of
Valletta settled colonists from ancient Greece. Century later, the island is established and Phoenician traders whose ships call at the islands during his voyage to the
European continent. Over 400 years BC Phoenicians were defeated and the area came under the control of the former Phoenician colony of Carthage in North Africa, and from 218 years BC is included within the Roman Empire.
After division of the Roman Empire,
Malta was part of the Byzantine Empire, under whose control remained until 870, when the Arabs invaded. At that time, built irrigation canals, the islands were moved several fruits and cotton. Of the
Maltese were allowed to profess Christianity, but had to pay poll-tax - a tax collected from non-Muslim population in the shariah.
In 1091 the islands of
Malta were conquered by Roger and I became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily. Christianity became the official religion again. In 1530, to protect Rome from Islamic invasion of Charles V provides a Knight of Malta Order of the Hospitaller. Over the years
Malta has become the largest naval force in the Mediterranean. Knights rule the island until 1798 when en route to Egypt from Napoleon goes here. For several days Frenchmen plundered the island. After his departure from the island to take control of his administration. French domination lasted until 1800, when Britain takes control and governor of Malta was assigned to Sir Alexander Ball. Its independence from Britain the country gets to September 21, 1964.
