Malta’s position - near major Mediterranean shipping routes, yet out of the way - has resulted in long stretches of isolation punctuated with often violent episodes of foreign intrusion. The islands’ oldest monuments are the megalithic temples that date from as far back as 3600 BC.
The Phoenicians colonised Malta around 800 BC and stayed for about 600 years.
mportant imports are machinery, fuel, and other products vital to the tourist industry, such as transportation equipment, live animals, food, tobacco, and chemicals. Exports also include chemicals and food. The European Community accounts for slightly more than three-quarters of foreign trade and most foreign investment.
The Maltese islands lie in the center of the Mediterranean, 93km south of Sicily and 300km north of Libya. The archipelago is made up of the islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino, plus the tiny uninhabited islets of Cominotto in the north and Filfla, about 5km off the southern coast. Together the islands make up a mere 316sq km. Malta, the largest, is only 27km at its longest point from northwest to southeast, and 14.5km at its widest point, from west to east. The geography of Malta is dominated by water.
Cyprus is one of the most beautiful islands in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea situated south of Turkey, west of the Levant, north of Egypt, and east southeast of Greece. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean (after Sicily and Sardinia), with an area of 9.251 square kms (roughly 3.570 miles).
HOSPITABILITY of CYPRIOTS
Cyprus is divided into six districts, whose capitals share the same name:
The districts are divides into municipalities.
Although a small country, Cyprus has an amazing cultural heritage. History in Cyprus dates as far back as 7000 BC. In this time the settlements along the north and south coasts of the island started.
Around 1400 BC, the first Greeks came to the island. They started the Hellenisation of the island.
