Monday 7th September - Craft Village

We went off to have a look at a craft village that has been set up in the Quonset huts left over by the British after the Second World War

On the way we learnt that Malta has 420,000 people and the island is 290 square kms. The Phoenicians have had the biggest influence on the peoples of the island and the Maltese language is largely developed from the Phoenician language. Even today Maltese can understand the Syrian people.
Between 1530 and 1798 the biggest influence was made by the Knight Templers and the order of St John settled there after the Crusades.
The Maltese asked the British for help in 1814 when Napoleon Bonaparte came to the shores and started pinching the gold and silver from the churches. The British sent Lord Nelson and the rest is history.
The British left in 1979 when Malta became independent.