Malta before being a European Union nation

What was Malta like before being a European Union nation ?

Malta is an island in the Mediterranean sea. It is one of a group of seven island of which only 3 are populated by humans. The whole of Malta is the seven islands which are situated south of Italy and midway between Sicily and the north coast of Africa. It stands to reason that the currency of Malta before it became one of the seventeen nations trading the Euro was the Maltese Lira.

The three populated archipelago islands of Malta

1. Malta - 246 square kms
2. Gozo - 67 square kms 
3. Comino - 3 square kms

Malta is actually the Republic of Malta and the history of the name is said to come from the age of the Phoenicians who found the islands accomodating as an haven (Malat). 

The Maltese archipelago islands abound in ancient history. Malta is synonymous with legends such as the Maltese Cross, the Knights of Malta, the Seven fortresses of Malta, the neolithic structures left as artifacts dating some 7000 years into the past.


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The Phoenicians make there mark starting about 4000 years in the past, the Greeks 3000 thousand years ago, the Romans and Carthaginians came next. Religious text tells us that Saint Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. The Romans and the Christian Goths ( East Germanic tribes ) took their turn at using the haven properties of the archipelago in the Mediterranean. By about 900 AD the Arabs took to the Malta islands but by 1100 AD the Military Hospitaller Knights of Malta took refuge on the Maltese archipelago and retained it until the mid 1500's when the Turks took over. Napoleon Boneparte seized Malta as he travelled towards Egypt in 1797 but by 1800 Malta was part of the British Empire.

Fast forward to 1964 and Malta gained its independence from the United Kingdom. A decade later the Maltese population was ruled by a republic but continued to be a member of the Commonwealth Nations.

By 1970 Malta had joined the United Nations and the Council of Europe which is a precedent of the European Union. By 1974 the Republic of Malta was born. ( A republic is a form of government which is rooted in the ideas of the Greek philosopher Plato and which suggests that the people of a nation are the biggest factor in how rules of law are mandated and enforced. ) A republic is similar to a democracy but the devil is in the details which need to be more deeply studied to be better understood.

In 1993 the European Union is born from the older EC, EEC, and ECSC foundations. Malta joins the EU on May 1, 2004. On January 1, 2008 Malta adopts the Euro currency as its official and sovereign currency and the Maltese Lira is taken out of circulation.

Note - Maltese Honey somehow plays a role in this Malta before being a European Union nation story but we leave it for another time. Bees and the ancient world somehow have a mystery all their own.