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Malta
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(JPG)
Malta (739,910 bytes) ( 2,760 x 2,124 ) |
Malta, an independent republic, consists of a small group of islandsÔÇöMalta, Gozo, Kemmuna, Kemmunett, and FilflaÔÇölocated in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily, with a total area of 316 sq km. The capital and leading port of the country is Valletta; the population of Malta is about 400,000. The islands of Malta consist of low-lying coralline limestone plateaus surrounded by impermeable clay slopes. The highest point is 239 m above sea level. The many ancient monuments and remains on Malta attest to the great age of its civilization. Remains from Stone Age and Bronze Age peoples have been found in subterranean burial chambers. The islands became a Phoenician colony about 1000 BCE. They were later occupied by the Greeks, who called the colony Melita, and later the islands passed successively into the possession of Carthage and Rome. The islands were occupied by Arabs in 870. A Norman army conquered the Maltese Arabs in 1090, and Malta was later made a feudal fief of the kingdom of Sicily. In 1530 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted Malta to the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who ruled the islands until the 19th century. In 1798 Napoleon invaded and occupied the islands during his Egyptian campaign. Unwilling to be ruled by France, the Maltese appealed to Britain, and in 1799 British naval officer Horatio Nelson besieged Valletta and compelled the withdrawal of the French. In 1814, Malta became part of the British Empire as a crown colony. This image was acquired on July 29, 2001, covers an area of 31.9 x 41.4 km, and is centered near 35.9 degrees north, 14.4 degrees east.
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Malta
Type: (JPG)
Size: (739,910 bytes)
Resolution ( 2,760 x 2,124 ) |
Please give credit for these images to:
NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems,
and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
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