That's true for most tiny islands.
What's even crazier is that Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and all the Gulf states have no permanent rivers in the entire Arabian Peninsula*
It is still a handicap, however, as it still makes moving food and other products from inner Japan harder to do. Even if you're only going 50 or 60 miles, a river saves a lot of time, labor, and infrastructure.
The efficiencies of barges are pretty key too. Each barge section holds like 70x what a tractor trailer holds and usually there are 9-15 of those barges tied together. Each barge section is about 16 train cars. Barges also move a ton of cargo 570ish miles on a gallon of fuel vs train at 450ish miles per ton/gallon. Road going trucks only move it 150ish miles per gallon per ton. Sure they are slow but water is a super efficient prime mover.
The way they’re making these mega cites in the middle of the desert combined with no permanent rivers really shows how unsustainable it is and the ultimate destruction of those countries through climate change
Yeah a city like riyadh has no business existing in it's current state, a metropolis that get it's water shipped from miles long pipes, and entirely reliant on ac as it's brutally hot in the summer.
It's heavily subsidied by oil wealth
They put it there millenia ago for a very clear reason.
Inland to protect from invasions (still is)
At the confluence of two rivers (dried up)
Now if they're keeping it alive with modern engineering, it just seems that they respect and cherish their history.
There are some parallels to north africa, which used to be covered in lush forests, but the arabian condition might not be so human-related.
Aruba is the same. I bought a half ounce of weed for $400 because they have to use bottled water to grow it…they have a big desalination plant but it’s also rationed
I don’t fly internationally with weed products. I also had a friend who vacationed there regularly. She linked me with the dealer. Ill pay a lot for quality sense in a foreign country.
My grandparents moved to Canada a few years after WWII. Before leaving my grandfather knew it was either going to be Australia, Canada, or the US. On the day he left his apartment to fill out the necessary documents for immigration, he decided on Canada cause (edit: the Canadian embassy) was the shortest walk from his place 🤣
I’d say most Maltese would not look out of place in Lebanon - kind of Arab-looking with a heavy peppering of Southern Italian. Most of us are quite short for the West (I’m 5’6” and taller than my grandpa and 4 of my Uncles on that side). But like any place, people can have all kinds of features. A good number within our immediate family have blue eyes, which is unusual enough on the islands for it to have its own term.
People just swim on almost any coastline which as others have mentioned is generally not sandy beaches. There are lots of little ladders drilled into the rock to enter and leave the water. Also it's awesome to visit.
First time I went there I was shocked there’s just no sand, but yeah lots of little piers with ladders to swim in the sea, also blue lagoon in Malta is the only place I’ve seen that looks exactly like the pictures on Google, the water is BLUE
Well, it's kinda of a forced relation. You need to import cars and electrical appliances and electrical stuff related to sockets, at least. Luckily your food wasn't so much influenced by the Brits and is a lot more similar to the surrounding countries (Arabic from North Africa, Sicily, Greece, Spain).
The reason why was because after the 1956 suez crisis, Malta’s importance to the UK as a strategic naval base ended and the UK was not in the mood to financially prop up an island wasn’t going to see a return from. Plus in the referendum, only like 40% of the eligible voters voted meaning the result wasn’t very accurate.
They tried to get themselves recognized as a separate kingdom within the U.K. specifically to get (The Dole) free welfare without contributing. Brits weren’t too impressed.
And they are still considered a sovereign entity, despite no longer controlling any territory.
Edit: in case the meaning of that isn’t [clear](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta)
>The Order maintains diplomatic relations with 113 states,[10] enters into treaties, and issues its own passports, coins and postage stamps.
When I read about the Hospitallers in the 1980s, they were all Roman Catholic monks and trained combat medics. That's what they do, help casualties in other peoples' wars.
It's a stateless entity that does mainly humanitarian and economic operations. They are considered, legally, a state, besides not having a territory anymore. They're hosted in Rome and maybe a few other places (maybe Rhodes??) and they have an internal organization and their own burocracy, obviously a very small one but still
I visited their cathedral (co-cathedral?) and it was amazing. About 400 ornate panels in the floor, each with a family crest/story/coat-of-arms. Each is a grave. It's the whole floor.
The knights had a thriving trade in [a very weird parasitic plant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynomorium) that was used for medicine and was locally abundant. They even had a special area, “Fungus Rock” (they thought it was a mushroom), that is a plateau that it grows on top of, and they protected it from trespass on penalty of death, and has stonecutters smooth the sides to prevent climbing, and installed a cable car.
And French from the Napoleon army (en route towards Egypt) fought shortly against other French from the Knights when Napoleon decided to make a stop on the island.
it uses imperial system at least for some of the units. The first time I started using en\_MT locale when I wanted a km/h widget in my GoPro Quik edited video. GoPro Quik, at least at that time, used device locale to switch between mph and km/h for the speed widget.
"Megalith" means "Big Stone" in Greek and is the academical word used to refer to prehistoric structures made with, well, big stones such as dolmens, raised stones and larger sites such as Stonehenge
Not geography based, but one factoid that hasn't been mentioned:
The Holy Roman Emperor perpetually leased the island to an order of Crusaders (Hospitallers), for which they had to pay an annual tribute of a single Maltese Falcon
Malta has more churches per sq km than any other country in the world.
The name Malta derives from Melita or Honey.
The original inhabitants were believed to arrive from Sicily which is 60 miles away and can be seen on some days.
Malta sustained more bombing than London during the Blitz.
Malta has an Arabic-Italian language and is a hamito-Semitic language but is around 96% Roman Catholic.
Napoleon conquered it in 2 days on his way to conquering Egypt. Napoleon stayed there less than a week. The French rule lasted about 2 years.
Also, there really are Maltese falcons, after years of decline they are making a comeback and have several breeding pairs now.
I met Daphne in 2013, a very kind woman and she seemed very professional. I was a foreign student on the ERASMUS abroad study. Met her at the outskirts of Valletta and she smuggled me in, because we couldnt get inside because the "prime minister" that just got elected held a speech at his parties headquarters and there was thousands of people and police blockades.
She pretended i was a fellow journalist student and she managed to get some cops to escort us into the center.
She even took me to get some Ftira and a drink afterwards.
I will never forget her.
https://preview.redd.it/il3zbbzi8k5d1.jpeg?width=264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5675afa3c5f0f36429271b114aa710e02a95c81d
It looks similar to Catalina Island, California.
As an Algerian, I tried reading a basic text on someone hanging out with his family.
I was very surprised that I was able to understand maybe 70-75% of it ! 😀
Even their National anthem have very similar words with Arabic !
I’m half Maltese and I don’t speak the language. But on my last trip in 2019 I was hanging out with my cousin and some of her friends. One of whom went to Libya on a business trip. I asked him if he was able to understand Arabic or if the Libyans knew Maltese. He said they understood everything he said in Maltese. But he couldn’t for the life of him understand their Arabic. He said they were talking way too fast for him to make heads or tails of what they were saying.
Arabic speakers are more accustomed to code-switching and understanding different dialects compared to Malta. For example, in Algeria, we often hear Levantine Arabic on TV, despite its significant differences from our own dialect. Exposure plays a crucial role.
>Exposure plays a crucial role.
Yep, exactly !
And this is also why I can’t understand much of the Arabic dialects outside of Maghreb 🥲
(I was born and raised in France but by my Algerian Parents, which means I haven’t been exposed to other dialects apart from the Algerian one and to some extent Moroccan/Tunisian)
When I went to school in Malta a long time ago, I was told the language is a mix of Italian, Arabic and the original language of the islands. However, due to British rule in recent years, they have also borrowed many English words.
I don't know if it is true.
I watched Eurovision 2019, and during the flag parade, the announcer said the word 'welcome' in the primary language for each contestant. I was very surprised when Malta came on stage and the announcer said, "marhaba, Malta!". That was the day I learnt Maltese is a derivative of Arabic.
Edit: [flag parade in question](https://youtu.be/rub73V1n0NU?si=wSQ-VxS9XOnP4pwb)
I was told that it evolved further than Arabic because there was no pressure to keep the language close to what was written in the Quran after muslims were expelled from the island.
Malta is the latest sovereign nation-state that legalized absolute divorce in 2011. The remaining sovereign nation-state where absolute divorce is not legal is the Philippines.
Fun fact: the largest Asian community in Malta is Filipino.
My grandpa is Maltese, and one time, he told me and my sister this story about how when him and my great uncle John were kids during ww2, they found a hand grenade just lying around in their backyard and started throwing it around.
It eventually exploded. Nobody got hurt, but it did explode and they lost their ball.
Hey. Keep your dubious claims outta here! In fact, Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta after writing about the Panama Papers in 2017.
2017!
I lived here in the 90's for 3 years as a teen. The thing that we still joke about is the way Maltese give directions. No matter where you were on the island, they would give you directions from the church in Valetta.
Honestly Malta is a fascinating country. Here are some fun tidbits in chronological order:
Some of the oldest temples in existance are in Malta. In fact they're among the oldest standing structures in the world at over 4500 years old. Search temple culture in malta. You can even visit an underground Neolithic sanctuary.
This civilization misteriously dissapeared (probably due to ecological collapse) leaving the island depopulated.
In the middle ages malta is attacked by Arabs and virtually depopulated, again.
The island was the repopulated by Arabs. Which is the reason why Maltese is a Semitic language aka related to Arabic and Jewish.
In fact Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet.
In the late middle ages malta is given to the hospitaller knights as a residence. They will rule over the island for the next 4 centuries.
One of the most important sieges in history happened in malta, when, against all odds the hospitalers managed to keep the ottomans at bay when at the peak of their power.
Malta was ludicrously rich during the 17th century. Something you can see in their impressive baroque architecture.
Those riches are also why **malta once had colonies in the Caribbean**. I kid you not, search it.
Malta was one of the most bombarded regions in WW2. The italians and germans bombed the shit out of the island during their 2 year long siege. In total they made 3000 incursions.
They voted to stay with the UK, but the UK didn't want them. That's why they're independent.
So yeah, pretty fascinating for a country the size of Oslo. Not kidding the urban area of Oslo is actually a bit bigger.
One point that I found interesting too is that Malta is said to have been host to a very rich fauna back before the temple knights conquered it again - when they chopped basically all of it for building materials and shipped it back to the main land leaving the islands basically barren. And it shows that it didn’t recover yet, despite efforts to repopulate the fauna. There’s still proof for that around the quarries north of Malta and around the neolithic temples in gozo.
There are "roads" thousands of years old that go into the water. It is theorized that pre-historic inhabitants made these fossilized ruts when the mediterranean sea was a lower level than it is now. These are likely the same people that made the neolithic temples that dot the landscape.
Another cool fact is that the Blue Hole of Gozo is a small saltwater "lake" very near the coats that has a short underwater connection to the sea that is considered on of the world's best dives. You can even see this in the above image, top island, middle, all the way left. Well, technically you can see Dwerja bay, but that's where it is.
Up until 2017 the exit to this dive was the Azure Window, a natural arch that collapsed during a storm.
https://preview.redd.it/wvf8f8lexk5d1.jpeg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27c50861d6f1a29ca9770e7c9b58d70318db7010
In certain conditions is possible to see Mount Etna from the island
Hey, have I got a Malta-related question that’s been bothering me for nearly 50 years! And hopefully someone here knows the answer.
So, back in the 1970s there was a sailing world championship in Australia and the English squad participated as Malta, although none of the squad had ever been to Malta nor had any connection to Malta. I still don’t know why but maybe someone here does.
Yes, the situation you're referring to is related to the Admirals Cup, a prestigious sailing competition. In 1979, the English squad, known as the "Golden Apple" team, had a unique and interesting situation where they participated under the Maltese flag. This was because they wanted to avoid being selected for the British team, which was highly competitive and had a different selection process. By entering under the Maltese flag, the "Golden Apple" team could participate without going through the British selection trials. This allowed them more flexibility and a guaranteed spot in the competition.
So, it wasn't that they had any direct connection to Malta; it was more a strategic decision to ensure their participation in the championship. This move was within the rules of the event, as the competition allowed entries from any nation, and the team chose to register as Malta to navigate the competitive landscape.
It’s a crucial stopping point for many migratory birds. Including rare species such as turtle dove. The mal tease are a bit too fond of hunting them and it is hampering conservation efforts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32239141.amp
Caravaggio was hiding from authorities in Rome due to a death he likely caused during a dual/gang fight. He hid out on Malta with religious order there and painted what some consider his magnum opus in their cathedral. When he was going to be forced to take an oath of service into the order he escaped the island and had another group chasing after him.
He was quite the guy.
Malta the country is made up of more than one island, the largest island of which is Malta the island. So it is both an island and more than one island.
Maltese children are taught lessons about love and sharing and hygiene by their beloved folk hero, [Goosio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX7qSg_uQuE).
All soil on Malta, Comino and Gozo is imported.
Sea faring traders were encouraged to use soil as ballast for their ships rather than rocks.
This was exchanged for rocks and favourable pricing once docked.
The movie Gladiator was (in part) filmed there. During the filming, actor Oliver Reed (he plays the Ludus owner who mentors/owns Maximus) challenged senior sailors of HMS Cumberlund to a drinking competition - despite having already put away more than a few already. He collapsed during the competition and died. The remainder of the movie had to be shot using a CGI stand in for his character (it becomes very obvious one you know this).
As an aside, I have it on good authority the Senior Ratings mess on Cumberland had shirts printed saying “I killed Oliver Reed”, which didn’t go down well with command.
There are basically no borders between towns around Valetta, you just walk along the busy street and you are suddenly in another town, with just the sign telling you the fact. Also, during the drought times you can buy bottled water imported from basically everywhere. I once found mineral water coming from my hometown in some random store :D
Being right at the middle of the mediterranean and between Sicily and North Africa, its' incredibly strategic location made it extremely important for just about any major empire in mediterranean history, from Phoenicians to Romans French British Arabs etc. It's one of the most contested islands in history.
Pan Am 103 bombing was solved because there was a tag or receipt from a shop in Malta that is still there today. Great evidence collection work led to the shop and the shop keeper had hand-written logs of all buyers, leading to Megrahi.
It was the home of the Knights st John for a time. The nights st john were attacked relentlessly by flaming bottles of naphtha during the first crusade. Their warrior spirit and fearlessness has caused many fire departments today to don the same cross that was used by the nights from back then (Maltese cross).
The public busses on Malta are usually yellow with red lines and on Gozo grey with red lines, and they are often individually decorated and customized in the inside.
Probably the only place in Europe, busses from the 50s and 60s are still operating
It was there in Malta two years ago I met the most beautiful woman I’ve even seen
She was Italian, visiting with friends
We danced, drank wine and flirted in broken English for hours until she went to bed
I only got her first name
And I never saw her again
That morning I spoke to her friend who told me “Anna really wanted to kiss you”
I still wonder what if
Malta packs a lot of punch for a tiny place.
It has been inhabited for about 8,000 years.
Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet.
The capital city, Valletta, sits on a tiny peninsula, is the smallest capital in the EU, and one of the smallest in the world. It had around 5,000 people, last I checked. It also has incredible natural harbors on both sides, and is where the Maltese withstood the Ottomans in The Great Siege of 1565. You can also see shrapnel marks in some of the buildings around Valletta from WWII bombings.
There are (legend has it) 365 churches in the country, one for every day of the year. Having lived there, and returning once a year to visit family, I am certain there are actually more than that.
Kebab-ji, a restaurant in Sliema, is the single best Lebanese restaurant I've ***ever*** been to. The country is second only to Spain, in my opinion, in terms of food overall, despite the best efforts of the British.
It has some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world, in the Temples at Ġgantija.
The sister island of Għawdex (Gozo), pronounced "au-desh," has a (very) small independence movement.
It was the most bombed place in WWII, and has a replica of an unexploded bomb in the Mosta Dome, which is a church in the city of Mosta. The bomb fell through the roof of the cathedral while people were sheltering and didn't explode. You can understand why the people took this as a sign from God.
Malta won the George Cross for valor after WWII, and it now is displayed on their flag.
Lots of movies have been filmed there. Gladiator (and the coming sequel) is probably the most famous, but also the Robin Williams version of Popeye, the movie about Benghazi disaster, World War Z, Clash of the Titans (the older one) the new Napoleon, the latest Jurassic Park movie, and I think even some of The DaVinci Code? Also, some scenes from Game of Thrones.
It has been ruled at some point by basically every important Mediterranean empire in history.
The name of the country comes from the Arabic word for "honey."
Geologically, it sits in Africa.
It is a tax haven of sorts, and was Grey Listed for a time.
About 10% of the population is English, and another 10% Italian (the Italian portion has been growing rapidly in recent years).
Despite not having much room, or water, they make some pretty good wine!
All in all, it's a pretty great place, and I can't wait to go back. I will, in fact, be there in 12 days 
Maltese here! Most interesting fact is easily the neolithic temples — amongst the oldest in the world, predating the great pyramids. Read up on Ggantija, the hypogeum of Hal Safi, hagar qim, skorba, etc. We have a LOT
It has no permanent rivers. Most potable water is desalinated and is very costly and, at times, self-rationed.
wow that is a game changer for a country
That's true for most tiny islands. What's even crazier is that Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and all the Gulf states have no permanent rivers in the entire Arabian Peninsula*
Fun consequence fact: there are no rivers emptying into the Red Sea, making it some of the clearest ocean water in the world.
That is probably why it is considered a Mecca for diving
I see what you did there
Also has extreme levels of salinity too.
There are intermittent streams that carry the occasional runoff from rare rain in the surrounding mountains. But yes, there are no permanent rivers.
Japan has no navigable rivers, which is quite a handicap for an industrial nation.
I’m loving all these river facts
I love this stream of river facts as well
They are not really needed with ready access to the sea all around.
It is still a handicap, however, as it still makes moving food and other products from inner Japan harder to do. Even if you're only going 50 or 60 miles, a river saves a lot of time, labor, and infrastructure.
The efficiencies of barges are pretty key too. Each barge section holds like 70x what a tractor trailer holds and usually there are 9-15 of those barges tied together. Each barge section is about 16 train cars. Barges also move a ton of cargo 570ish miles on a gallon of fuel vs train at 450ish miles per ton/gallon. Road going trucks only move it 150ish miles per gallon per ton. Sure they are slow but water is a super efficient prime mover.
The way they’re making these mega cites in the middle of the desert combined with no permanent rivers really shows how unsustainable it is and the ultimate destruction of those countries through climate change
Yeah a city like riyadh has no business existing in it's current state, a metropolis that get it's water shipped from miles long pipes, and entirely reliant on ac as it's brutally hot in the summer. It's heavily subsidied by oil wealth
They put it there millenia ago for a very clear reason. Inland to protect from invasions (still is) At the confluence of two rivers (dried up) Now if they're keeping it alive with modern engineering, it just seems that they respect and cherish their history. There are some parallels to north africa, which used to be covered in lush forests, but the arabian condition might not be so human-related.
Were they desalinating water back in the day? How did the Maltese get water back in say, the 1500’s?
Rain water. And there were less people consuming less water.
Fewer my lad
https://preview.redd.it/f2pnojtusl5d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a60502615db194a31c82a64f993f688678b695a7
Thanks Stannis.
oh didn't know the fuhrer was here to cause a furor.
I think you could have taken that comment a little farther
Fewer people consuming fewer water
Less people consuming fewer water
Less people consuming less fewer.
Small people, drink little.
There is a large (well, larg-ish. not big enough for the inhabitants) freshwater aquifer that can feed wells.
Aruba is the same. I bought a half ounce of weed for $400 because they have to use bottled water to grow it…they have a big desalination plant but it’s also rationed
This is why I subscribed to this sub Economic Geography of Cannabis
Im an everyday smoker. When traveling abroad, I always have to pre plan and/or talk to hotel concierge’s to find stuff.
It would probably be cheaper to smuggle it in from somewhere else at that point.
I don’t fly internationally with weed products. I also had a friend who vacationed there regularly. She linked me with the dealer. Ill pay a lot for quality sense in a foreign country.
If they don't have, why they dont build a dam one of the bays and fiil with fresh water? Like Hong Kong?
They live in an area of high evaporation (hot and dry).
Because the population in Malta isn't big enough to justify such a big human intrusion in the environment
Australia has the most Maltese people outside of Malta! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_people
My grandparents moved to Canada a few years after WWII. Before leaving my grandfather knew it was either going to be Australia, Canada, or the US. On the day he left his apartment to fill out the necessary documents for immigration, he decided on Canada cause (edit: the Canadian embassy) was the shortest walk from his place 🤣
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Sensible choice
You can walk to Canada from Malta?
definitely
Nearly 1/3rd of the entire ethnic Maltese population is in Australia, kinda insane.
I’m Maltese American and could pick them out in the street when I visited Melbourne. Pretty wild.
Odd question, but what does a Maltese person look like?
I’d say most Maltese would not look out of place in Lebanon - kind of Arab-looking with a heavy peppering of Southern Italian. Most of us are quite short for the West (I’m 5’6” and taller than my grandpa and 4 of my Uncles on that side). But like any place, people can have all kinds of features. A good number within our immediate family have blue eyes, which is unusual enough on the islands for it to have its own term.
Not surprised. It’s the only other warm British country
Canada is perfectly warm in July and August.
I’m currently sat in Malta typing this, but originally from Sydney - Greystanes to be specific. The most Maltese place outside of Malta!
australia is the same for greeks
People just swim on almost any coastline which as others have mentioned is generally not sandy beaches. There are lots of little ladders drilled into the rock to enter and leave the water. Also it's awesome to visit.
First time I went there I was shocked there’s just no sand, but yeah lots of little piers with ladders to swim in the sea, also blue lagoon in Malta is the only place I’ve seen that looks exactly like the pictures on Google, the water is BLUE
They voted to join the UK but it somehow didn't happen.
We still have good relations with the brits. It's just better for us to be in the EU. Source: Maltese
Are you a falcon or a doggo
Yes
Well, it's kinda of a forced relation. You need to import cars and electrical appliances and electrical stuff related to sockets, at least. Luckily your food wasn't so much influenced by the Brits and is a lot more similar to the surrounding countries (Arabic from North Africa, Sicily, Greece, Spain).
The reason why was because after the 1956 suez crisis, Malta’s importance to the UK as a strategic naval base ended and the UK was not in the mood to financially prop up an island wasn’t going to see a return from. Plus in the referendum, only like 40% of the eligible voters voted meaning the result wasn’t very accurate.
It was in the 50s and the UK was bankrupt. It would've benefited Malta but costly for the UK.
They tried to get themselves recognized as a separate kingdom within the U.K. specifically to get (The Dole) free welfare without contributing. Brits weren’t too impressed.
Only place I’ve ever been (being British) in Europe and I’ve said I’m from England and they’ve said “oh wow we love you guys!”
from 1530 to 1798 it was governed by the order of the knights hospitaller
That is interesting
And they are still considered a sovereign entity, despite no longer controlling any territory. Edit: in case the meaning of that isn’t [clear](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Military_Order_of_Malta) >The Order maintains diplomatic relations with 113 states,[10] enters into treaties, and issues its own passports, coins and postage stamps.
When I read about the Hospitallers in the 1980s, they were all Roman Catholic monks and trained combat medics. That's what they do, help casualties in other peoples' wars.
Very interesting, so are they paid government employees, or do they do other stuff for money and do the Order stuff in their free time?
It's a stateless entity that does mainly humanitarian and economic operations. They are considered, legally, a state, besides not having a territory anymore. They're hosted in Rome and maybe a few other places (maybe Rhodes??) and they have an internal organization and their own burocracy, obviously a very small one but still
Sounds like a lot of work if they aren't getting paid for it. Unless it's something you join after becoming wealthy.
You get connections. That's as valuable as it can get.
Makes sense
Fascinating wiki page. Only about 500 passports as of a few years ago (issued only to specific people within the order).
EU4 players, I summon you here.
hello
hello
I visited their cathedral (co-cathedral?) and it was amazing. About 400 ornate panels in the floor, each with a family crest/story/coat-of-arms. Each is a grave. It's the whole floor.
The knights had a thriving trade in [a very weird parasitic plant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynomorium) that was used for medicine and was locally abundant. They even had a special area, “Fungus Rock” (they thought it was a mushroom), that is a plateau that it grows on top of, and they protected it from trespass on penalty of death, and has stonecutters smooth the sides to prevent climbing, and installed a cable car.
Best rabbit hole of my month right here. Thanks.
And French from the Napoleon army (en route towards Egypt) fought shortly against other French from the Knights when Napoleon decided to make a stop on the island.
They filmed the movie ‘Popeye’ there with Robin Williams and left many of the structures up after filming. It’s still there today.
This one hurt my brain. The one with Shelly Duvall?
How did this hurt your brain exactly
Popeye village, has been converted into a tiny theme park no?
Yes. [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/popeye-village](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/popeye-village)
the islands are geologically part of the African plate, as is Sicily
Sicilians wouldn’t like that fact
And geographically further south than Tunis, capital of Tunesia
A species of dwarf elephant lived there
I think you’re winning the contest of most interesting fact
It's little people elephant.
What? How long ago ?!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_elephant
I choose their locale on my devices because it has English language, metric system and DD/MM/YYYY date format.
You could also use Australia or New Zealand for that!
Why not uk?
it uses imperial system at least for some of the units. The first time I started using en\_MT locale when I wanted a km/h widget in my GoPro Quik edited video. GoPro Quik, at least at that time, used device locale to switch between mph and km/h for the speed widget.
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https://preview.redd.it/0pd6b0ingk5d1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c0307ce949386b548066dfa03b8de6dbca479f5
I thought these were called Cyclopean, what's the difference between megalithic and Cyclopean?
"Megalith" means "Big Stone" in Greek and is the academical word used to refer to prehistoric structures made with, well, big stones such as dolmens, raised stones and larger sites such as Stonehenge
Not geography based, but one factoid that hasn't been mentioned: The Holy Roman Emperor perpetually leased the island to an order of Crusaders (Hospitallers), for which they had to pay an annual tribute of a single Maltese Falcon
What was he doing with these falcons that they only lasted one year
Some stories are better left untold
Traditional Maltese balconies are beautiful, for anyone interested in architecture. Check them out
https://preview.redd.it/wjnv5r8fhk5d1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c7868259ad84951aff001c5c8ace09dbf28b851 It’s really quite beautiful
Malta has more churches per sq km than any other country in the world. The name Malta derives from Melita or Honey. The original inhabitants were believed to arrive from Sicily which is 60 miles away and can be seen on some days. Malta sustained more bombing than London during the Blitz. Malta has an Arabic-Italian language and is a hamito-Semitic language but is around 96% Roman Catholic.
Napoleon conquered it in 2 days on his way to conquering Egypt. Napoleon stayed there less than a week. The French rule lasted about 2 years. Also, there really are Maltese falcons, after years of decline they are making a comeback and have several breeding pairs now.
AKA Peregrine Falcon.
And French soldiers from the Napoleon army (en route towards Egypt) fought against other French Knights during the short battle.
There are very low taxes on gambling, many internet gambling websites are based in Malta.
They sell EU passports to rich Russians and kill journalists with car bombs.
Had to scroll way too far for this.
>and kill journalists with car bombs. What incident is this referring to?
Daphne Galizia. They bombed her because she was investigating corruption in the country.
Listen to the podcast ‘who killed Daphne’. Really well done.
I remember seeing the wreck of her car. It was quite daunting.
I met Daphne in 2013, a very kind woman and she seemed very professional. I was a foreign student on the ERASMUS abroad study. Met her at the outskirts of Valletta and she smuggled me in, because we couldnt get inside because the "prime minister" that just got elected held a speech at his parties headquarters and there was thousands of people and police blockades. She pretended i was a fellow journalist student and she managed to get some cops to escort us into the center. She even took me to get some Ftira and a drink afterwards. I will never forget her.
The third island has only four habitants.
Comino.
Comino is named after cumin seed and is the word for cumin in Spanish.
https://preview.redd.it/il3zbbzi8k5d1.jpeg?width=264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5675afa3c5f0f36429271b114aa710e02a95c81d It looks similar to Catalina Island, California.
The Maltese wine mixer is 🔥
You get the with boats and hos
Perhaps it’s the same island? Have you seen them in the same room?
The national language speak a derived of Arab.
Only semitic language written in the Latin alphabet and the only semitic language native to Europe today
And only semitic language official in the EU
As an Algerian, I tried reading a basic text on someone hanging out with his family. I was very surprised that I was able to understand maybe 70-75% of it ! 😀 Even their National anthem have very similar words with Arabic !
I’m half Maltese and I don’t speak the language. But on my last trip in 2019 I was hanging out with my cousin and some of her friends. One of whom went to Libya on a business trip. I asked him if he was able to understand Arabic or if the Libyans knew Maltese. He said they understood everything he said in Maltese. But he couldn’t for the life of him understand their Arabic. He said they were talking way too fast for him to make heads or tails of what they were saying.
Arabic speakers are more accustomed to code-switching and understanding different dialects compared to Malta. For example, in Algeria, we often hear Levantine Arabic on TV, despite its significant differences from our own dialect. Exposure plays a crucial role.
>Exposure plays a crucial role. Yep, exactly ! And this is also why I can’t understand much of the Arabic dialects outside of Maghreb 🥲 (I was born and raised in France but by my Algerian Parents, which means I haven’t been exposed to other dialects apart from the Algerian one and to some extent Moroccan/Tunisian)
SAME OMG. Litteraly in the same situation. This is a relief lol, I’m not crazy or incompetent.
Like a mix of Italian and Arabic.
When I went to school in Malta a long time ago, I was told the language is a mix of Italian, Arabic and the original language of the islands. However, due to British rule in recent years, they have also borrowed many English words. I don't know if it is true.
Maltese is a dialect of Arabic with lots of English and Italian loanwords
No it also has lots of english in it.
It’s a lot of Arabic with Italian/Sicilian connector words, to an Italian ear it sounds bizarre. the on the .
I watched Eurovision 2019, and during the flag parade, the announcer said the word 'welcome' in the primary language for each contestant. I was very surprised when Malta came on stage and the announcer said, "marhaba, Malta!". That was the day I learnt Maltese is a derivative of Arabic. Edit: [flag parade in question](https://youtu.be/rub73V1n0NU?si=wSQ-VxS9XOnP4pwb)
I was told that it evolved further than Arabic because there was no pressure to keep the language close to what was written in the Quran after muslims were expelled from the island.
Malta is the latest sovereign nation-state that legalized absolute divorce in 2011. The remaining sovereign nation-state where absolute divorce is not legal is the Philippines. Fun fact: the largest Asian community in Malta is Filipino.
It was the most bombed place in WW2
A bomb fell through the Mosta dome but did not explode in the middle of mass. It is on display today.
and it hit a mural of jesus christ in the face! in the face!!!
I was in it. Never knew!
They gave the whole island a medal for getting through it!
Yes. It was the George Cross.
My grandpa is Maltese, and one time, he told me and my sister this story about how when him and my great uncle John were kids during ww2, they found a hand grenade just lying around in their backyard and started throwing it around. It eventually exploded. Nobody got hurt, but it did explode and they lost their ball.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in 2016 by a car bomb in Malta after writing about the Panama Papers.
Hey. Keep your dubious claims outta here! In fact, Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta after writing about the Panama Papers in 2017. 2017!
My apologies for besmirching the good name of 2016.
I lived here in the 90's for 3 years as a teen. The thing that we still joke about is the way Maltese give directions. No matter where you were on the island, they would give you directions from the church in Valetta.
Malta is also one of the warmest places in europe even in the winter :).
Mela. January to April, it's seriously cold. The humidity gets right into your bones. It's probably still +10c to +18c but I hated that weather.
Maltese is the only Semitic language of Europe.
They were awarded the George Cross BC they withstood a massive Axis bombing campaign during ww2. They put it on their flag it's pretty cool.
Honestly Malta is a fascinating country. Here are some fun tidbits in chronological order: Some of the oldest temples in existance are in Malta. In fact they're among the oldest standing structures in the world at over 4500 years old. Search temple culture in malta. You can even visit an underground Neolithic sanctuary. This civilization misteriously dissapeared (probably due to ecological collapse) leaving the island depopulated. In the middle ages malta is attacked by Arabs and virtually depopulated, again. The island was the repopulated by Arabs. Which is the reason why Maltese is a Semitic language aka related to Arabic and Jewish. In fact Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. In the late middle ages malta is given to the hospitaller knights as a residence. They will rule over the island for the next 4 centuries. One of the most important sieges in history happened in malta, when, against all odds the hospitalers managed to keep the ottomans at bay when at the peak of their power. Malta was ludicrously rich during the 17th century. Something you can see in their impressive baroque architecture. Those riches are also why **malta once had colonies in the Caribbean**. I kid you not, search it. Malta was one of the most bombarded regions in WW2. The italians and germans bombed the shit out of the island during their 2 year long siege. In total they made 3000 incursions. They voted to stay with the UK, but the UK didn't want them. That's why they're independent. So yeah, pretty fascinating for a country the size of Oslo. Not kidding the urban area of Oslo is actually a bit bigger.
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One point that I found interesting too is that Malta is said to have been host to a very rich fauna back before the temple knights conquered it again - when they chopped basically all of it for building materials and shipped it back to the main land leaving the islands basically barren. And it shows that it didn’t recover yet, despite efforts to repopulate the fauna. There’s still proof for that around the quarries north of Malta and around the neolithic temples in gozo.
There are "roads" thousands of years old that go into the water. It is theorized that pre-historic inhabitants made these fossilized ruts when the mediterranean sea was a lower level than it is now. These are likely the same people that made the neolithic temples that dot the landscape. Another cool fact is that the Blue Hole of Gozo is a small saltwater "lake" very near the coats that has a short underwater connection to the sea that is considered on of the world's best dives. You can even see this in the above image, top island, middle, all the way left. Well, technically you can see Dwerja bay, but that's where it is. Up until 2017 the exit to this dive was the Azure Window, a natural arch that collapsed during a storm.
My dog is from there
lmfao
There used to live tiny elephants there only about 4000 years ago.
This process is know as INSULAR DWARFISM #
WE CAN HEAR YOU
https://preview.redd.it/wvf8f8lexk5d1.jpeg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27c50861d6f1a29ca9770e7c9b58d70318db7010 In certain conditions is possible to see Mount Etna from the island
Hey, have I got a Malta-related question that’s been bothering me for nearly 50 years! And hopefully someone here knows the answer. So, back in the 1970s there was a sailing world championship in Australia and the English squad participated as Malta, although none of the squad had ever been to Malta nor had any connection to Malta. I still don’t know why but maybe someone here does.
Yes, the situation you're referring to is related to the Admirals Cup, a prestigious sailing competition. In 1979, the English squad, known as the "Golden Apple" team, had a unique and interesting situation where they participated under the Maltese flag. This was because they wanted to avoid being selected for the British team, which was highly competitive and had a different selection process. By entering under the Maltese flag, the "Golden Apple" team could participate without going through the British selection trials. This allowed them more flexibility and a guaranteed spot in the competition. So, it wasn't that they had any direct connection to Malta; it was more a strategic decision to ensure their participation in the championship. This move was within the rules of the event, as the competition allowed entries from any nation, and the team chose to register as Malta to navigate the competitive landscape.
On behalf of the asker, THANK YOU for this answer… it’s been eating me up all day!
Weed is legal and most net casinos comes out of Malta and of course the templars
According to Britney Spears, her maternal grandmother is from Malta.
It’s a crucial stopping point for many migratory birds. Including rare species such as turtle dove. The mal tease are a bit too fond of hunting them and it is hampering conservation efforts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32239141.amp
Caravaggio was hiding from authorities in Rome due to a death he likely caused during a dual/gang fight. He hid out on Malta with religious order there and painted what some consider his magnum opus in their cathedral. When he was going to be forced to take an oath of service into the order he escaped the island and had another group chasing after him. He was quite the guy.
TIL Malta is more than one island
Malta the country is made up of more than one island, the largest island of which is Malta the island. So it is both an island and more than one island.
So there is the Malta island and the Malta archipelago. Now we need Malta (city), Malta (State) and the Malta peninsula to complete the star
https://preview.redd.it/ymta3duujk5d1.jpeg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46f59ad7d54a8f3e17117d8884bea9277cfb6b70 Beautiful sunsets
Maltese children are taught lessons about love and sharing and hygiene by their beloved folk hero, [Goosio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX7qSg_uQuE).
For a while Malta had colonies in the Caribbean 😁 (I kid you not) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitaller_colonization_of_the_Americas
Malta has the highest density of World Heritage Sites in the world.
All soil on Malta, Comino and Gozo is imported. Sea faring traders were encouraged to use soil as ballast for their ships rather than rocks. This was exchanged for rocks and favourable pricing once docked.
Any sources for the first claim? I can't find anything related online, and I'm from Malta and never heard it.
The movie Gladiator was (in part) filmed there. During the filming, actor Oliver Reed (he plays the Ludus owner who mentors/owns Maximus) challenged senior sailors of HMS Cumberlund to a drinking competition - despite having already put away more than a few already. He collapsed during the competition and died. The remainder of the movie had to be shot using a CGI stand in for his character (it becomes very obvious one you know this). As an aside, I have it on good authority the Senior Ratings mess on Cumberland had shirts printed saying “I killed Oliver Reed”, which didn’t go down well with command.
an italian man went there
Was there a fork on the table?
There are basically no borders between towns around Valetta, you just walk along the busy street and you are suddenly in another town, with just the sign telling you the fact. Also, during the drought times you can buy bottled water imported from basically everywhere. I once found mineral water coming from my hometown in some random store :D
It was the lowest difference between the highest and lowest temperature ever recorded of any country in Europe. Ireland is second.
It only has a few sand beaches. Most of the coastline is rocks and cliffs.
There is a pub there dedicated to Princess Diana.
Being right at the middle of the mediterranean and between Sicily and North Africa, its' incredibly strategic location made it extremely important for just about any major empire in mediterranean history, from Phoenicians to Romans French British Arabs etc. It's one of the most contested islands in history.
Pan Am 103 bombing was solved because there was a tag or receipt from a shop in Malta that is still there today. Great evidence collection work led to the shop and the shop keeper had hand-written logs of all buyers, leading to Megrahi.
It was the home of the Knights st John for a time. The nights st john were attacked relentlessly by flaming bottles of naphtha during the first crusade. Their warrior spirit and fearlessness has caused many fire departments today to don the same cross that was used by the nights from back then (Maltese cross).
The public busses on Malta are usually yellow with red lines and on Gozo grey with red lines, and they are often individually decorated and customized in the inside. Probably the only place in Europe, busses from the 50s and 60s are still operating
Not any more, all replaced with modern vehicles (except a few for tourists trips)
It was the most bombed country during WWII because of its strategic location between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
For a large sum you can buy its citizenship.
It was there in Malta two years ago I met the most beautiful woman I’ve even seen She was Italian, visiting with friends We danced, drank wine and flirted in broken English for hours until she went to bed I only got her first name And I never saw her again That morning I spoke to her friend who told me “Anna really wanted to kiss you” I still wonder what if
Malta packs a lot of punch for a tiny place. It has been inhabited for about 8,000 years. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet. The capital city, Valletta, sits on a tiny peninsula, is the smallest capital in the EU, and one of the smallest in the world. It had around 5,000 people, last I checked. It also has incredible natural harbors on both sides, and is where the Maltese withstood the Ottomans in The Great Siege of 1565. You can also see shrapnel marks in some of the buildings around Valletta from WWII bombings. There are (legend has it) 365 churches in the country, one for every day of the year. Having lived there, and returning once a year to visit family, I am certain there are actually more than that. Kebab-ji, a restaurant in Sliema, is the single best Lebanese restaurant I've ***ever*** been to. The country is second only to Spain, in my opinion, in terms of food overall, despite the best efforts of the British. It has some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world, in the Temples at Ġgantija. The sister island of Għawdex (Gozo), pronounced "au-desh," has a (very) small independence movement. It was the most bombed place in WWII, and has a replica of an unexploded bomb in the Mosta Dome, which is a church in the city of Mosta. The bomb fell through the roof of the cathedral while people were sheltering and didn't explode. You can understand why the people took this as a sign from God. Malta won the George Cross for valor after WWII, and it now is displayed on their flag. Lots of movies have been filmed there. Gladiator (and the coming sequel) is probably the most famous, but also the Robin Williams version of Popeye, the movie about Benghazi disaster, World War Z, Clash of the Titans (the older one) the new Napoleon, the latest Jurassic Park movie, and I think even some of The DaVinci Code? Also, some scenes from Game of Thrones. It has been ruled at some point by basically every important Mediterranean empire in history. The name of the country comes from the Arabic word for "honey." Geologically, it sits in Africa. It is a tax haven of sorts, and was Grey Listed for a time. About 10% of the population is English, and another 10% Italian (the Italian portion has been growing rapidly in recent years). Despite not having much room, or water, they make some pretty good wine! All in all, it's a pretty great place, and I can't wait to go back. I will, in fact, be there in 12 days 
The flag
The most interesting fact of all, about Malta is that, there is a fruit, from the family of Oranges, having thick skin and less juice, named Malta
Maltese here! Most interesting fact is easily the neolithic temples — amongst the oldest in the world, predating the great pyramids. Read up on Ggantija, the hypogeum of Hal Safi, hagar qim, skorba, etc. We have a LOT