Malta is a truly peculiar little country, it's located on an archipelago in central mediterrenian sea, just 80km away from the coast of Sicily and about 300km from the coast of North Africa. It consists of two main islands, Malta and Gozo. Malta is the main one, as can be easily guessed, it is where the country's capital Valletta is located. Still, both islands are tiny, even with Malta being the bigger one, the length of its coastline is less then 70 kilometers! Gozo is even smaller with 35 km, and the area of the country is 315 square kilometers in total. Now that's tiny.
Malta has its own, strong identity that has developed from a mashup of mediterrenian, english and arabic influences. By having a quick look at Malta's history we can understand those influences, it is amazing how many times those remote islands were conquered or peacefully occupied by another nation. It wenth through the handsd of Greeks Phoenicians and Cartaginians, then through an Arab period in the middle ages, then Norman conquest, then christianity striked back with the reign of knights of Malta, then came the french alongside Napoleon who captured Malta on his way to Egypt (Napoleon asked for a safe harbour to resupply his ships, and then turned his guns against his hosts once safely inside Valletta) and finally - by having enough of the French, Malta gave itself to Great Britain, became its colony and remained under the crown for the next 150 years gaining independence in 1964.
