Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is an island country in the European Union consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, and considered part of Southern Europe. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily (Italy), 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The official languages are Maltese and English, and 66% of the current Maltese population is at least conversational in the Italian language.
The transport system in Malta is small but extensive, and the islands' domestic system of public transport is reliant on buses and taxis, although there were both a railway and a tramway in the past.
The geography of Malta is dominated by water. Malta is an archipelago of coralline limestone, located in the Mediterranean Sea, 81 kilometres south of Sicily, Italy, and nearly 300 km north (Libya) and northeast (Tunisia) of Africa. Although Malta is situated in Southern Europe, it is located farther south than Tunis, capital of Tunisia, Algiers, capital of Algeria, Tangier in Morocco and also Aleppo in Syria, and Mosul in Iraq in the Middle East. Only the three largest islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino – are inhabited. Other (uninhabited) islands are: Cominotto, Filfla and the St.Paul's Islands. The country is approximately 316 km2 in area. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide harbours. The landscape of the islands is characterised by high hills with terraced fields. The highest point, at 253 metres, Ta' Zuta on mainland Malta. The capital is Valletta.
Malta is the largest of the three major islands that constitute the Maltese archipelago. It is sometimes referred to as Valletta for statistical purposes to distinguish the main island from the entire country. Malta is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy and north of Libya. The island is 27 kilometres (17 mi) long and 14.5 kilometres (9 mi) wide, with a total area of 246 square kilometres (95 sq mi). The capital is Valletta, while the largest locality is Rabat. The island is made up of many small towns, which together form one larger urban zone with a population of 409,259. The landscape is characterised by low hills with terraced fields.
Comino is a small island of the Maltese archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea, measuring 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) in area. Named after the cumin seed, the island has a permanent population of only two residents and is part of the municipality of Għajnsielem, in southeastern Gozo, from where one priest and one policeman commute. The island is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve.
Ċirkewwa is a harbour situated in the northernmost point of Malta.
Mġarr ix-Xini, is a bay close to Għajnsielem (southwest), Xewkija and Sannat (southeast) on the Maltese island of Gozo. It lies in a gorge to the west of Mġarr Harbour, accessible mainly from the nearest village of Xewkija as well from Sannat.
HMS Manxman (M70) was an Abdiel-class minelayer. The ship is named for an inhabitant of the Isle of Man.
Gozo, Maltese: Għawdex and in antiquity known as Gaulos, is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago.
The Gozo Museum of Archaeology is a museum in the Cittadella of Victoria in Gozo, Malta. The museum of Archaeology was opened in 1960 as the first public museum in Gozo and was known as the Gozo Museum. The museum was redesigned and reopened in 1986 as the Archaeology Museum of Gozo. Today it is known as the Gozo Museum of Archaeology or the National Museum of Archaeology. The museum features archaeological artifacts and relics and displays covering the cultural history of the Island of Gozo from the prehistoric era to the early modern period. Its exhibits include the Maymūnah Stone.
Mġarr is a harbour town in south-eastern Gozo, Malta.
The Gozitan Nation, commonly known as Gozo, was an unrecognised state located on the island of Gozo between 1798 and 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was a monarchy ruled by King Ferdinand III of Sicily with a provisional government led by Governor-general Saverio Cassar. Its capital was Rabat. The country was established between 28 and 29 October 1798 from the territory of French-occupied Malta and was eventually incorporated into Malta Protectorate on 20 August 1801.
The Malta–Gozo Channel Important Bird Area lies in the Maltese archipelago of the Mediterranean Sea. It encompasses some 123 km2 of the Gozo Channel, between the islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as the waters up to 7 km offshore from Rdum Tal-Madonna in Malta to the east and immediately offshore from Ta' Ċenċ Cliffs in Gozo to the west. It was identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports about 1300 breeding pairs of Cory's shearwaters and 600–1000 pairs of yelkouan shearwaters, as well as up to 1000 ferruginous ducks on passage during the migration season.
EuroVelo 7 (EV7), named the Sun Route, is a 7,409 km (4,604 mi) long EuroVelo long-distance cycling route running north–south through the whole of Europe from the North Cape in Norway to the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The route passes through nine countries, and from north to south these are: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Malta.
The Gozo Channel Company Limited, commonly known as Gozo Channel Line or the Gozo ferry, is a Maltese company founded in 1979 that operates ferry services between the islands of Malta and Gozo using Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferries. Crossings happen throughout the day all-year round including weekends, public holidays, and night services.
The Gozo boat was a type of settee-rigged boat originating from Malta. Gozo boats were the main means of transport across the Gozo Channel between Gozo and the main island of Malta from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. The design of the boats developed from the speronara.
Għar Qawqla is a limestone formation located off Marsalforn on the island of Gozo in Malta. It was formerly a natural arch connected to the mainland, but the span collapsed at some point during the 20th century. It has been speculated that the name Marsalforn might be partially derived from forna, referring to the natural sea caves of the area, of which Għar Qawqla was one of the best-known. The formations stands about 7.9 metres (26 ft) off the shore.
The Malta–Gozo Tunnel is a planned undersea tunnel between the islands of Malta and Gozo, both part of the Republic of Malta. The tunnel would replace the Gozo Channel Line, the current inter-island ferry service, between Ċirkewwa in Malta and Mġarr in Gozo.
The 1948 Gozo luzzu disaster occurred on 30 October 1948 when a luzzu fishing boat carrying passengers from Marfa, Malta, to Mġarr, Gozo, capsized and sank in rough seas off Qala, killing 23 of the 27 people on board. Inquiries held after the accident determined that the boat had been overloaded as it was carrying around double its capacity.
MT or MVHephaestus was a bunkering oil tanker which ran aground off Qawra, Malta on 10 February 2018 and was subsequently scuttled as a dive site off Xatt l-Aħmar, Gozo on 29 August 2022.
