57 Fun Facts About Malta

Malta lies in which sea?

The Mediterranean surrounds Malta, which sits near the centre of that sea, south of Sicily and north of Libya, on the old shipping lane between Gibraltar and Suez.

What is the capital of Malta?

Valletta, built by the Knights on the Sciberras peninsula after the siege of 1565, is the European Union's smallest capital, under a square kilometre with about 6,000 residents.

Besides Malta itself, which two islands of the archipelago are inhabited?

Gozo and Comino are the inhabited islands besides Malta: Gozo is the rural second island with tens of thousands of people, while Comino, between the two, has only a handful of permanent residents.

What are Malta's two official languages?

Maltese and English are both official under the constitution, with Maltese the national language; if the Maltese and English texts of a law conflict, the Maltese version prevails.

The Maltese language descends from which extinct dialect?

Siculo-Arabic, the Arabic spoken in Sicily from the ninth century, gave Maltese its grammar and core vocabulary; later Sicilian, Italian and English borrowings layered on top, making it the only Semitic language with official EU status.

Malta is roughly how far from Italy?

80 km is the distance from Malta to the Sicilian coast, making Italy the nearest neighbour; Tunisia lies 284 km west and Libya 333 km south.

The Ġgantija temples on Gozo, built around 3500 BC, are notable as what?

Some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world, the Ġgantija temples predate Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids by about a millennium, their coralline limestone walls surviving to over six metres.

Which biblical figure was shipwrecked on Malta around AD 60, according to the Acts of the Apostles?

St Paul, being shipped to Rome for trial, was wrecked on Malta in Acts 27-28, where he healed the father of Publius, the island's chief man, who by tradition became its first bishop.

The Arabs conquered Malta from the Byzantines in which year?

870 was the year the Aghlabids of Ifriqiya took Malta from the Byzantines and sacked its town; the geographer al-Himyari wrote that it lay nearly deserted until Muslims from Sicily resettled it in 1048-49.

Which Norman leader attacked Malta in 1091 and is credited by legend with the colours of its flag?

Roger I of Sicily raided Malta in 1091 and took tribute from its Muslim rulers; the tale that he tore a strip from his red-and-white banner for the islanders is a myth, but it shaped the modern flag.

In 1530, Charles V handed Malta to the Knights Hospitaller in exchange for what annual tribute?

A Maltese falcon, sent each All Saints' Day to the Viceroy of Sicily, was the only rent Charles V asked; the Knights, driven from Rhodes by the Ottomans in 1522, accepted and landed in October 1530.

Which Grand Master led the Knights through the Great Siege of 1565?

Jean de Valette, Grand Master from 1557, held Birgu and Senglea against the Ottomans through the summer of 1565 and laid the foundation stone of the fortified new city on 28 March 1566.

Which Ottoman sultan sent the fleet that besieged Malta in 1565?

Suleiman the Magnificent, who had taken Rhodes from the Knights in 1522, sent tens of thousands of men under Lala Mustafa Pasha and admiral Piyale Pasha against Malta in 1565; the siege failed.

How long did the Great Siege of Malta last?

Nearly four months: the Ottomans landed on 18 May 1565 and withdrew after the relief force arrived in early September; 8 September is kept as Victory Day, a public holiday.

Which French general captured Malta from the Knights in 1798 on his way to Egypt?

Napoleon Bonaparte took Malta without a real fight in June 1798 when the Knights surrendered; in six days he abolished slavery and feudal privileges and sailed on to Egypt, leaving a garrison the Maltese rose against within months.

Malta formally became part of the British Empire under which 1814 treaty?

Paris was where the 1814 treaty ending the war with France was signed, confirming British sovereignty over Malta, whose people had sought British protection in 1800 after ejecting the French garrison.

Which award did the British king give to the whole island of Malta in April 1942?

The George Cross was awarded to Malta by George VI on 15 April 1942 'to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history'; it has been on the flag since 1943.

The Maltese flag is unique among national flags for featuring what?

English-language text is what no other national flag carries: the medal in the canton, awarded to the island for its wartime endurance, bears the words 'For Gallantry'.

Malta gained independence from Britain on which date?

21 September 1964 was Independence Day: Malta became a sovereign state within the Commonwealth under Prime Minister George Borg Olivier, keeping Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta until the republic of 1974.

Which Labour prime minister led Malta to declare itself a republic in 1974?

Dom Mintoff, Labour prime minister from 1971 to 1984, pushed through the constitutional change that made Malta a republic on 13 December 1974 and negotiated the British forces' departure, completed on 31 March 1979.

Which two leaders held a 1989 summit in Malta that heralded the end of the Cold War?

George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev met aboard ships in storm-tossed Marsaxlokk Bay on 2-3 December 1989, weeks after the Berlin Wall opened, and declared the era of confrontation over.

Malta joined the European Union in which year?

2004 was the year: Malta joined on 1 May 2004 with nine other states in the EU's largest enlargement, after approving membership in a 2003 referendum, and adopted the euro on 1 January 2008.

What was Malta's currency before the euro?

The Maltese lira, known in English as the Maltese pound until 1983, gave way to the euro on 1 January 2008 at a fixed 0.4293 lira per euro; before 1825 the islands had used the scudo.

What symbol appears on Malta's €1 and €2 coins?

The Maltese cross, the eight-pointed emblem of the Knights of St John, is on the €1 and €2 coins; the coat of arms fills the 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces and the Mnajdra Temples the three smallest copper coins.

What is the highest point in Malta?

Ta' Dmejrek at 253 m, on the Dingli Cliffs plateau in the west of the main island, is the archipelago's summit; the islands have no permanent rivers or lakes.

How much land do Malta's islands cover in total?

316 sq km is the combined area of the three inhabited islands, making Malta the world's tenth-smallest country and, with well over half a million people, one of the most densely populated.

Which hilltop city served as Malta's capital from antiquity until the Knights arrived?

Mdina, on a hill in the centre of the main island, was the Phoenician settlement of Maleth and the Roman town of Melite; it stayed the capital until the Knights settled at Birgu in 1530.

On which tectonic plate does Malta sit?

African is the plate: Malta is the exposed top of the Pelagian Platform, a shelf of the African plate that formed a land bridge between Sicily and North Africa before sea levels rose.

Which side of the road do Maltese drivers use?

The left is the Maltese side, a legacy of a century and a half of British rule; Malta, Cyprus and Ireland are the only EU states that drive on the left.

The traditional Maltese fenkata is a meal centred on which meat?

Rabbit is the centrepiece: a fenkata runs from spaghetti in rabbit sauce to stuffat tal-fenek, rabbit stewed in wine and garlic; tradition says the dish began as defiance of the Knights' hunting bans.

Pastizzi, Malta's favourite pastry snack, are traditionally filled with ricotta or what?

Curried peas (piżelli) are the other classic filling; the flaky, diamond-shaped pastizzi are sold hot and cheap from pastizzeriji across the islands, and Maltese emigrants carried them to Australia.

What is the name of Malta's common local beer?

Cisk, a pale lager first brewed in 1929 by the Malta Export Brewery, takes its name from founder Giuseppe Scicluna's nickname; its maker merged with Farsons in 1948 to form Simonds Farsons Cisk.

Girgentina and Ġellewża are Maltese varieties of what?

Grapes: Girgentina is the islands' native white variety and Ġellewża the native red, both grown on small terraced plots; Maltese wines carry the DOK (Denominazzjoni ta' Oriġini Kontrollata) designation.

Which painter left The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in Malta's Conventual Church of St John?

Caravaggio painted The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in 1608 for the oratory, the only work he ever signed, in the blood spilling from the saint's neck; Mattia Preti later covered the vault in Baroque scenes.

Malta's capital was chosen as the 2018 European Capital of what?

Culture: Malta's capital shared the 2018 European Capital of Culture title with Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, marking the year with festivals and the restoration of the Triton Fountain at the city gate.

The Order of Malta, the modern Knights of St John, is unusual in international law because it is what?

A sovereign entity with no territory: the Order issues its own passports and exchanges ambassadors with more than a hundred states from two extraterritorial seats in Rome, and has held UN observer status since 1994.

Which voting system does Malta use to elect its House of Representatives?

Single transferable vote has been used in Malta since 1921: voters rank candidates in multi-member districts, and surplus and eliminated-candidate votes transfer down each ballot until the seats are filled.

Which two parties dominate Maltese politics?

Labour has governed since 2013, led since 2020 by Robert Abela.

Which religion does Malta's constitution establish as the state religion?

Catholicism is named in Article 2 of the constitution as 'the religion of Malta', with the Church given the duty to teach which principles are right and wrong, and Catholic instruction provided in state schools.

Malta was the first EU country to ban what?

Conversion therapy was outlawed in December 2016, when Malta became the first EU state to criminalise attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, with fines and possible imprisonment for practitioners.

Between 1948 and 1967, what share of Malta's population emigrated?

Most headed for Australia under an assisted-passage scheme.

Who is regarded as Malta's national poet?

Dun Karm Psaila, a priest who wrote the words of the national anthem L-Innu Malti in 1922, is the national poet; Manwel Magri was the Jesuit who collected the islands' folk tales.

Traditional Maltese għana is a form of what?

Sung folk debate over guitar describes għana's best-known style, spirtu pront, in which two or more singers, usually men, improvise rhyming verses against each other to guitar accompaniment.

In October 2022, what became free for residents of Malta?

Bus travel on the public network became free for residents holding a Tallinja card from 1 October 2022; the classic yellow-and-orange buses had been retired a decade earlier when Arriva took over the routes.

How many letters does the Maltese alphabet contain?

Maltese is written in a Latin-based alphabet, unusual for a Semitic language, and includes letters such as ġ, ħ and ż.

Which airline took over as the country's national carrier on 31 March 2024?

KM Malta Airlines began flying on 31 March 2024, the day Air Malta shut down after 50 years as flag carrier; the new state-owned airline kept Air Malta's KM flight code.

The ancient Greek name for Malta, Melítē, is usually derived from the Greek word for what?

Honey, meli in Greek, is the root of Melítē, a name the Greeks may have chosen for the island's bees and prized honey; a rival theory derives 'Malta' from a Phoenician word for haven.

Malta International Airport was built on land formerly occupied by which RAF base?

RAF Luqa, a wartime bomber and reconnaissance base, became the civil airport after the RAF left in 1979; the passenger terminal opened in 1992, and it is the islands' only airport, Gozo having just a heliport.

In which year was the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum discovered by workers cutting cisterns?

1902 was the year: workers cutting cisterns for new houses in Paola broke into the underground chambers and tried to hide the find; Manuel Magri began formal excavations for the Museums Committee in November 1903.

What is the name of the famous clay figure recovered from the Hypogeum's Main Chamber?

The Sleeping Lady, a clay figure about 12 cm long of a heavy-hipped woman lying on her side, dates from the fourth or third millennium BC and is displayed in the National Museum of Archaeology in the capital.

The island of Comino takes its name from which seed?

Cumin, kemmun in Maltese, once grew wild on the island, which is Kemmuna in Maltese; the 3.5 sq km islet between Malta and Gozo is a bird sanctuary with only a handful of permanent residents.

Gozo's Azure Window natural arch collapsed into the sea in which year?

2017 was the year: the 28-metre limestone arch at Dwejra fell on the morning of 8 March 2017 after days of storms, leaving nothing visible above the water; it had appeared in Game of Thrones and Clash of the Titans.

Popeye Village at Anchor Bay was built as the set for a film starring which actor?

Robin Williams played Popeye in Robert Altman's musical, with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl; the village of rustic wooden buildings took seven months to build and survives as a tourist attraction.

By what nickname is Malta's walled former capital popularly known?

The Silent City is the nickname: the old capital's narrow lanes lie behind bastion walls where almost no cars are allowed and only a few hundred people live, so the streets fall quiet once the day-trippers leave.

The entire city of Valletta became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in which year?

1980 was the year: UNESCO inscribed the whole city for its 320 monuments packed into 55 hectares, alongside the Hypogeum and Ġgantija; that same year the city hosted the 24th Chess Olympiad.

Which pope sent military architect Francesco Laparelli to design the new city of Valletta?

Philip II of Spain sent money too; de Valette laid the foundation stone but died of a stroke in 1568 before the city was finished.

Which event wrecked the old capital's cathedral, prompting Lorenzo Gafà's Baroque rebuild?

The 1693 Sicily earthquake, which levelled Catania and shook the whole central Mediterranean on 11 January 1693, wrecked the medieval cathedral; Lorenzo Gafà's Baroque replacement rose between 1697 and 1703.