Malta during Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine times : outside influence and original traits

Abstract

Malta occupies a distinctive place in the geo-scape of the central Mediterranean, right in the centre of that sea, almost at equal distances from the sea's east and west boundaries, and its north and south continents. That is a reality that humans have not been able to change. Whether Malta's geographical identity is Mrican or European - or neither, or both - depends on its geological formation, its position on the map, and on its climate; all of which determine the bio-environment (including the flora and fauna) of a place. The African geological identity of Malta has been firmly established by the geologists. Malta forms part of the Mrican tectonic plate that incorporates the southern tip of the Sicilian triangle, up to the southern fringes of Etna. Malta's position on the map makes it closer to Europe (only 90 km from the southern tip of Sicily) than to any point on the African littoral (300 km or more), though it should be kept in mind that Malta lies on a more southerly latitude than parts of the north African countries of Tunisia and Algeria. The present climate, which has probably changed to some degree over the millennia, is neither European nor African; it is, we are told by geographers, typically Mediterranean; and so is its bio-environment, characterised as it is by its semi-arid, typically Mediterranean maquis. Comprehensively, Malta's geographical identity is fundamentally Mediterranean. No human can change that.