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Malta


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Definition of Malta
  • an island country in the central Mediterranean, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Sicily; population 405,200 (est. 2009); official languages, Maltese and English; capital, Valletta.

Historically of great strategic importance, the island has been held in turn by invaders including the Greeks, Arabs, Normans, and Knights Hospitaller. It was annexed by Britain in 1814 and was an important naval base until independence within the Commonwealth in 1964. Besides Malta itself, the country includes two other inhabited islands, Gozo and Comino

Malta in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Malta in the US English dictionary