This
week’s blog post will be on the archipelago, which Gozo is a part of, and its
current state. The Maltese archipelago is made up of Malta, Gozo, Comino,
Cominotto and Fifla, however most of the populations lives on the islands of
Malta and Gozo. The region is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea,
59 miles off the cost of Sicily to the north and 194 miles off the cost of Tunisia
to the west. All five of the islands together make up roughly 95 square miles.
Gozo is the most forested of all the islands and has the most farming done on
it then any of the other islands. The thin soil and scarce groundwater makes
for large amounts of runoff, which poses a problem for archeological areas. For
this reason terracing is used on Gozo to contain erosion in the Ggantija sites.
The Wild life of the island is largely insects and migratory birds.
The
public means of transportation in the large towns is the local bussing system.
Ferry services connect the five islands; and the beaches, coves, grottoes, and
fishing villages are all connected by roadways. In some places on the island
the land fall abruptly into the sea over rocks and cliffs creating beautiful views
with medieval fortifications. The typical rainy season is from October to February;
however the climate remains mild year round. The islands capital is Valletta,
which is on the island of Malta and is also where the Grand Harbor is located. The
population of the region was 369,451 in 1999, with 341906 living on Malta,
27545 on Gozo and the rest living on the other 3 islands. That year 4826 babies
were born giving the reason a birth rate of 13.1 per thousand. This growing
population makes the region one of the densest in the world, second only to
Singapore. 
The
spoken language is Maltese. It is the only European language that is in the
Afro-Asiatic family. This is due to its close relationship to forms of Arabic spoke
in Libya and Tunisia. The language is heavily influenced by Sicilian and is
written with a twenty-nine-letter alphabet. The language is universally understood
by the citizens and has a minimal dialect variation. The more educated of the Maltese
people often speak English as well as Italian. The national symbol is that of
Saint Paul. He is credited with converting the Maltese to Christianity. The symbolism
is a strong reference to how the islands continued to fight in the crusades
long after most Europeans abandoned them. The other major symbols used
throughout the island are that of Roman Catholicism, Dolphins, the Maltese
Cross, a strong European identity, and that of siege mentality.
The
Maltese people have a combined culture with aspects taken from the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Normans,
Sicilians, Swabians, Arogonese, Castilian, the Knights, and the British. They
share every little with the people of northern Africa that contributed much to their
language however. The ethnic identity of the Maltese people is relatively homogeneous
by modern standards. A small Jewish community in the region numbers at about
one hundred twenty resides on the islands was well as a group of India settlers
from Indian at about sixty people.
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