On Location - Island of Malta

Malta is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea.  It is the 10th smallest country in the world with a population density that ranks 5th in the world.   Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John, French, and British.  Most of these foreign influences have left some sort of mark on the country's ancient culture.