Malta (island)

Malta is an island in Southern Europe. It is the largest and most populous of the three major islands that constitute the Maltese Archipelago. The island is situated in the Mediterranean Sea, directly south of Italy and north of Libya. Lying to the south-east of the smaller islands of Gozo and Comino, it is sometimes referred to as Valletta for statistical purposes to distinguish the main island from the entire country. The island is long and wide, with a total area of . The capital is Valletta, while the largest locality is Rabat. The island is made up of many small towns, which together form one larger urban zone with a population of 409,259. The landscape is characterised by low hills with terraced fields. History of Malta and Timeline of Maltese history Humans have inhabited Malta since about 5200 BC, when stone age hunters or farmers arrived from Sicily. Early Neolithic settlements were discovered in open areas and also in caves, such as Għar Dalam. Around 3500 BC, a culture of megalithic temple builders then either supplanted or arose. They built some of the oldest existing, free-standing structures in the world in the form of megalithic temples such as those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra. After 2500 BC, Malta was depopulated but soon became the home of Bronze Age settlers, who settled in sites such as Borġ in-Nadur. They built first fortifications in Malta. Malta was later ruled by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs before it was occupied by the County of Sicily in 1091. The island then became part of the Kingdom of Sicily until it was given to the Order of Saint John along with Gozo and Tripoli (North Africa) in 1530. In 1192 Tancred, King of Sicily created Margaritus of Brindisi the first Count of Malta. In 1565, the Order and the Maltese withstood a major Ottoman invasion which became known as the Great Siege of Malta. The Order ruled Malta for over 250 years and built many great pieces of architecture, including the capital city Valletta. In 1798, the French under Napoleon occupied Malta and ruled from 1798–1800.

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Related concepts (3)

Gozo

Gozo (ˈɡoʊzoʊ, USalsoˈɡɔːdzoʊ,_ˈɡɔːtsoʊ; Għawdex, ˈɐːʕʊ̯dɛʃ), in antiquity known as Gaulos (; Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago. As of 2021, the island has a population of around 31,232 (out of Malta's total 443,227), and its inhabitants are known as Gozitans (Għawdxin).

Comino

Comino (Kemmuna) is a small island of the Maltese archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea, measuring in area. Named after the cumin seed, the island has a permanent population of only two residents and is part of the municipality of Għajnsielem, in southeastern Gozo, from where one priest and one policeman commute. The island is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve (Natura 2000 marine protected area). The island has a karst landscape supporting sclerophyllous shrubland.

Knights Hospitaller

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (ˈhɒspᵻtələr), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was founded in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there until 1291, thereafter being based in Kolossi Castle in Cyprus (1302–1310), the island of Rhodes (1310–1522), Malta (1530–1798), and Saint Petersburg (1799–1801).