Malta Tourism Authority www.visitmalta.com – Malta’s Tourism Board. Site Description; Megaliths, medieval dungeons and Calypso’s Cave – The Maltese Islands are positively mythic. The narrow meandering streets of their towns and villages are crowded with Renaissance cathedrals and Baroque palaces. As the countryside is dotted with the oldest known human structures in the world, the Islands have rightly been described as an open-air museum. The Maltese archipelago lies virtually at the centre of the Mediterranean, with Malta 93km south of Sicily and 288km north of Africa. The archipelago consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino with a total population of 400,000 inhabitants over an area of 316sq km and a coastline of 196.8km (not including 56.01 km for the island of Gozo). Malta is the largest island and the cultural, commercial and administrative centre. Gozo is the second largest island and is more rural, characterised by fishing, tourism, crafts and agriculture while Comino is largely uninhabited… read more here
WIKI on Malta en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta The Maltese islands were first settled in 5200 BC by stone age farmers who had arrived from the nearby, much larger island of Sicily, possibly the Sicani who were the only known tribe to be inhabiting the island at this time. The Sicani are generally regarded to be related to the Iberians. During 3500 BC, these people built some of the oldest free-standing structures and some of the oldest religious structures in the world, in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo, other early temples include those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra. Around 700 BC, there was Ancient Greek culture on Malta, especially around the area of Valletta. A century later the natives were joined on the island by Phoenician traders, who used the islands as an outpost for their trade route explorations from the east Mediterranean Sea across to Cornwall.. read more here
Lonely Planet on Malta www.lonelyplanet.com/malta From its North African and Arabic influences (listen carefully to the local language) to the Sicilian-inspired cuisine, Malta is a microcosm of the Mediterranean. Few European countries have such concentrated history, architecture and, yes, beaches in so tiny an area. There’s been an eclectic mix of influences and a roll-call of rulers over the centuries, but be in no doubt: Malta is not just a notional outpost of Italy or a relic of colonial Britain. This island nation (all 316 sq km of it, comprising the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino) has a quirky character all of its own. From prehistoric temples to baroque architecture, feasts of rabbit to festas of noisy fireworks, rattling buses to colourful fishing boats, this nation has loads of unique charm.. read more here