Malta

History

Malta is populated towards 5200 av. J. - C. and an important prehistoric civilization exists on the island before the arrival of the Phéniciens (as from the 9th century before J. - C.) which gave him the name of Malat (i.e. “sure place”). Greek are also installed on the site of current the Mdina towards 736 av. J. - C. and bring a democratic regime to Malta. The island then passes under the control of Carthage (400 av. J. - C.) then Romains (218 av. J. - C.), before being conquered by the Arab in 870. In 1090, the Norman , Masters of Sicily, carried out by the count Roger de Hauteville, seizes Malta. In 1127, the island passes under sicilian domination. For this period, the Malteses rechristianisent but preserve their language close to Arabic, while massively borrowing part of their Vocabulaire from the Sicilien and the Italian . The archipelago accommodates driven out Jewish families of Spain in 1492. In 1530, Charles Quint, which had inherited the possessions of Naples and Sicily, offers Malta to the hospital military sovereign Ordre of Midsummer's Day of Jerusalem, an order devoted to the defense of the Latin Royaume of Jerusalem, in compensation of Rhodos from where they were driven out by the Othoman : the large Master of the order becomes the sovereign of Malta. The order changes name then and becomes the Order of Malta. They build several fortifications and can resist victoriously the Turkish seat of 1565. Their domination ends in 1798 with the catch of the island by Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1800, the Malteses call the Britanniques with the assistance because of the systematic plundering of the island by the Napoleonean troops and several unpopular laws promulgated by Bonaparte. However, the British refuse to return the archipelago to the order of Malta and officially annex it to the British Empire in 1814 after the signature of the treated of Paris. However the British are not accepted better than the French: they impose their language unilaterally and monopolize the political power and economic. This situation of colonial exploitation causes in return the rise of nationalist claims and the British must concede a new constitution increasing the number of Maltese elected officials at the Legislative council then to recognize (1934) the language Maltais E. During the Second world war, Malta plays a big role because of its strategic position which obstructs considerably the supply of the armies of the Axe in North Africa in their attempt to seize the Suez Canal. That is worth to him the Cross of the king George for her heroic resistance vis-a-vis the Blocus and to the ceaseless bombardments, cross which is reproduced today on the national flag. The independence of the country is recognized on September 21st, 1964 but Malta preserves the queen Elisabeth II at her head like many countries of the the Commonwealth. They are only 10 years later, on December 13rd, 1974, under the impulse of the Prime Minister Dom Mintoff that Malta proclaims the République and elects a president at his head. The adhesion of Malta to the European Union becomes effective on May 1st, 2004, 11 years after the beginning of the first negotiations.

Relations with the European Union

the July 16th 1990 Malta presents its application to join.
the December 10th 1999 Malta opens the negotiation of adhesion (finished the December 13rd 2002).
the March 8th 2003 53,6% of the Malteses approve adhesion by Référendum.
the April 14th 2003 the European Council approves adhesion.
the April 16th 2003 Malta signs the Treaty of Accession (into force of May 1st 2004).
the February 27th 2007 Malta requires that be examined its subordination to the Critères of convergence.
the May 16th 2007 the European Central bank and the European commission publish their reports on the respect of the criteria of convergence by Malta.
on June 21st, 2007 the European Council authorizes the adoption of the Euro, after the decision of the Heads of State or of government, the Ministers for the Economy and Finances (Ecofin) on July 10th, 2007, repeal the exemption whose Malta enjoys and fix the irrevocable rate of conversion at 1 euro = 0,42930 book Maltese woman.

Geography

The Maltese territory is an archipelago, located at the center of the Mediterranean, the border between the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean and between the North Africa (Cape Bon) and to 100 km of the south of Europe (Sicily).

Only the 3 principal islands are inhabited: Malta, Gozo ( Għawdex ) and Comino ( Kemmuna ). The small islands of Cominotto and Filfla remain without permanent residents. The island of Malta measures 27 km in its bigger length and 14,5 km in its greater width. Its culminating point is the Ta' Dmejrek (253 m).

The local climate is of standard Mediterranean, with rainy winters and hot and dry summers.

Contrary to what can be thought, the south of Malta is not the point more in the south of the European Union (who is in fact the Greek island of Gavdos).

The Maltese archipelago is located on the African Tectonic plate.

Policy

Subdivisions

Since 1993, Malta is subdivided in 68 local Conseils (also called Localité S ), which are besides the administrative entity smallest: there exist 53 on Malta and 15 about it on Gozo. There is no intermediate entity between these localities and the national Gouvernement.

Localities

Economy

Demography

Culture

Languages

The republic of Malta recognizes a national language: the Maltese and two official languages: the Maltese and the English. In other words, the administration, the courts employ the Maltese normally, but they can employ English if they consider it necessary.
the Maltais is a language Sémitique coming from the Phénicien, métissée of Arabic following the Arab presence with, as well as Italian , Latin , and other languages of the catholic countries which were spoken in the knights about Malta.
The language is written with “the supplemented Latin alphabet”. As for the Maltese words of Arab origin, they are still today rather similar to the words currently employed in the Arab dialectal varieties of North Africa, primarily in the Tunisian .
The great majority of the islanders, is 95%, speaks the Maltese. However, because of the long British colonization, English also plays a big role in this State. Actually, the place of English, only spoken by some 6.200 people like native tongue, is considerable on the socio-policy plan, because it remains one of the two official languages of the republic. The sector of the Language course abroad, with more than 40 schools in Malta, uses the presence of this anglophone community and the place of English like official language to propose English courses in a very Mediterranean environment.

Malta counts two other languages employed in the country: Arabic (approximately 7 200 speakers) and Italian (approximately 5 000 speakers): Italian, one of the official languages of Malta until the Thirties, in any case is included/understood and spoken like language second by most of the Malteses. In addition, the Maltese right does not define the concept of national Minorité: there thus does not exist any group of population recognized as tel. This is why no legal instrument was adopted and the need for particular laws in the field of the languages was not felt. There thus does not exist any law aiming assimilating the national minorities or at implementing a general policy of integration or protection. The government of Malta declares that there exists on its territory no national minority within the meaning of convention-tallies for the protection of the national minorities. However, Malta considers the ratification (February 10th, 1998) convention-tallies like an act of solidarity compared to the objectives of convention.

Festivals and bank holidays

Tourism

Codes

The Republic of Malta has as a code:

MT, according to the standard ISO 3166-1, alpha-2 (code list country),
MLT, according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (code list country) code alpha-3, according to the Code list countries used by NATO, alpha-2 according to the Code list countries used by NATO, and according to
M, according to the international Code list of the number plates,
9:00, according to the List of prefixes ICAO of registration of the aircraft,
LM, according to the List of the prefixes of codes ICAO of the airports,
.mt , according to the List of Internet TLD (Signal level domain)

See too

Sources

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