The Language Question in Malta

Extract

The Islands of Malta and Gozo are situated midway between Europe and Africa. Scientists contend that they are but the remains of a natural bridge which, in the oldest pre-historical times, united the two continents. To-day, these Islands are about fifty miles from Sicily and one hundred and eighty miles from the nearest point of Africa. They occupy almost the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, the theatre, up to 1492 when America was discovered, of all that written history records of past civilizations which grew and flourished round its shores. This has exercised a predominant influence on the Maltese Islands, which changed destiny and fortune with the rise of each new power holding sway in the Mediterranean Sea: Malta, since the remotest times, has always belonged to the strongest naval Power.

Archaeological remains on the Island speak of a civilization much older than that of the Phoenicians. These people knew Malta as a place of shelter, and confined themselves to its shores. But it is difficult to trace the race to which the aborigines belonged. All the theories on the subject are mere guess-work. A clue, however, of importance is to be found in the teeth of the so-called Neanderthal Man discovered during excavations at Ghar Dalam, and constituting a scientific basis to the much credited theory that Malta once formed a pillar of a bridge between Europe and Africa.