Malta : At the cross-road of worlds

Presentation

Off Sicily and off Tunisia, the archipelago of Malta includes all the variety and the wealth of the East and the West. No Mediterranean civilization diverted its road of the archipelago, leaving there every time its imprint. Secular Latin traditions, oriental relaxed rhythm of life, Anglo-Saxon discipline and future turned to Europe, make of Malta an island with one thousand and one facets.

Main towns : La Valette (cap.), Birkirkara

Surface areas : 316 sq.kms.

Population : 401 000 inhabitants

Particularité : In the XVIth century, the Emperor Charles the Fifth donates Maltese islands to the Knights of the Order of Saint Jean's Hospitaller of Jerusalem, dispossessed of the island of Rhodes by the Turks. Having pushed away heroically the assaults of Solimane, the Order of Malta is at its highlight. Little by little, the spirit of the Order evolves and under the napoleonic occupation, of the XVIIIth century, the Knights are forced to leave the island. Today, based in Rome,the Order, always sovereign, has a hospitaller and charitable mission. These activities makes of the Order of Malta the oldest humanitarian association (creation in 1050).