James Baquet

Here’s another tiny nation that swings a pretty big bat in the popular imagination. The Republic of Malta is an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, lying east of Tunisia, north of Libya, and a stone’s throw south of the Italian island of Sicily. In fact, 66 percent of Maltese speak Italian.

What makes Malta so evocative? Two things. In ancient times, the “Knights of Malta” were a military religious order, also called the “Knights Hospitallers.” They were founded in 1099, ostensibly to provide aid (including a hospital and armed escorts) to pilgrims to the “Holy Land,” as Palestine was then called. By the time they settled in Malta in 1530 (after stints in Cyprus, Rhodes and around Europe) they had become strictly military, and were famed for their actions against Muslims in the area.

Their symbol was called a “Maltese Cross,” one with vaguely V-shaped arms of equal length, usually white on a red background. It has been trademarked by Malta’s national airline, Air Malta, and is found on Malta’s civil ensigns.

The second image of Malta in popular thought is a statue called the “Maltese Falcon,” the centerpiece of a 1941 film noir based on Raymond Chandler’s novel of that name. The film’s opening credits inform us that in 1539 some knights on Malta sent a jewel-covered statue of a falcon to Charles V of Spain, but it was seized by pirates and lost — until the events of the movie.

Malta today is still said to have an exotic charm. Independent from Great Britain since 1964 (after 150 years), it uses English as an official language, as well as Maltese, Europe’s only Semitic language, derived from a form of Arabic previously spoken in Sicily. Though widely used, Italian is not official.

Inhabited for over 8,000 years, it has been under the control of nearly all Mediterranean powers — Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Arabs, the Turks — as well as such European powers as the French and the British. Traces of nearly all remain for the tourist to experience, as well as seven megalithic temples.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. a movie with dark tones, giving a feeling of despair

2. members of a Middle Eastern language family

3. periods of time spent doing something

4. made of giant stones

5. bringing out feelings or memories

6. flag used on private boats, other than the national flag

7. has a big influence

8. supposedly, apparently

9. a bird of prey

10. very near (to)