Republic of Malta
Europa del Sur
Sun · Knights · Ancient
Malta's Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples, dating to 3600–2500 BC, are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids — making Malta home to some of the oldest free-standing stone structures on Earth.
Más allá de la capital, las principales ciudades son Birkirkara, Qormi, Mosta — cada una un centro de cultura regional, economía e historia. Valletta is the smallest capital city in the EU and possibly the most historically dense — its 320 metres by 600 metres fortified peninsula contains co-Cathedrals, the Grand Master's Palace, and dozens of baroque churches built by the Knights of St John between 1530 and 1798, creating a UNESCO World Heritage streetscape where every alley opens onto a view that would anchor most European cities' entire old town.
Los principales idiomas hablados son maltés, inglés, que reflejan el patrimonio cultural del país y abren puertas a una amplia comunidad internacional. Internacionalmente, Malta se contacta mediante el código +356. Maltese people developed one of the world's most unusual languages — Maltese (Malti) is the only Semitic language written in Latin script and an EU official language, evolving from medieval Arabic left by Arab rulers of 870-1091 AD and subsequently absorbing Sicilian, Italian, and English vocabulary in a linguistic stratification that traces Malta's succession of rulers without fully belonging to any of them.
El tráfico rodado circula por la izquierda, en consonancia con la convención de
La vida económica y cotidiana se rige por la zona horaria de UTC+01:00, alineando el país con sus vecinos regionales.
Pastizzi — diamond-shaped flaky pastry cases filled with ricotta cheese or mushy peas — are the definitive Maltese street food, sold from 5am at pastizzerija (pastry shops) to workers buying breakfast in a tradition so embedded in Maltese morning life that the pastizzerija's hours define when the working day begins for its customers.
Football is Malta's primary sport, competing in UEFA qualifiers as one of Europe's smallest football nations — the national team's draw against Czechoslovakia in a 1975 World Cup qualifier remains the most celebrated result in Maltese football history — while water polo in the Mediterranean's warm waters and diving on the island's offshore reefs reflect a maritime sporting culture as natural as football on an island.
The Maltese Islands' Blue Lagoon on Comino Island, the Azure Window sea arch (collapsed in 2017), and the clear visibility of the Mediterranean Sea above prehistoric Ġgantija temples on Gozo — older than Stonehenge or the Egyptian pyramids — place Malta in the extraordinary position of having some of Europe's oldest above-ground human structures on islands with some of its clearest coastal waters.