Where is Malta located? It is usually one of the first questions a Maltese person has to answer when he says he’s Maltese living on an island whose name is Malta and usually the maltese guy would try to answer by saying…… “Have you heard about ITALY?…” hopefully the answer would be “Ye” then the maltese guy would say …. “It’s sort of south of Italy”.

Well since Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and adopted the euro on 1 January 2008, neighbouring Mediterranean and European countries have indeed heard more of the island of Malta. However, few usually know the location of the Maltese Islands, unless they have been to the islands before.

So where is Malta located then?

The Maltese archipelago (The archipelago is made up of five islands: Malta, Gozo, Comino and two uninhabited islands i.e. Cominetto and Filfla.) is located in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. (If you try to find it on a world Map you will only see the word Malta). The islands are about 93 Km south of Sicily (on sunny days some even claim they can see Sicily, they surely have good eyes) and about 350 Km north of Libya (never heard anybody claim he could see Libyan coast on a sunny day).

The Maltese islands were occupied during the years by Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Saracens, and Normans, Malta was granted to the Knights Hospitalers in 1530 and passed to France in 1798 and Great Britain in 1800. So it must not come as a surprise that the Maltese islands is filled with all sorts of treasure and attractions for tourists.

The country acquired its independence in 1964 but has remained part of the British Commonwealth. Current maltese estimated population of 402,000.