Daily life in the village of Mosta, 1600-1650

Abstract

Mosta today has the appearance of a small town. It has a fairly large population of about 8,000, a great variety of shops, both private and public elementary and secondary schools, several industrial plants manufacturing I tiles and textiles, as well as a number of private and government offices and banks. Its large church, known as the Rotunda, which was completed in 1857, replaced an older one around which the village had grown. Between 1600 and 1650 Mosta was no more than just a small village out of about forty similar others scattered on the Island. A few hundred people lived there, mainly farmers who cultivated and utilized the land in the surrounding areas and also in the northern parts of Malta.