So as mentioned last week, we all (the Cal Poly folks) are studying Malta in an Ethnic Studies class here at Cal Poly. This past week the class broke up into groups and focused on different eras of Malta and then presented our findings to the class. I'm going to attempt to highlight some of the information we talked about. (Feel free to comment on this post to add more information).
Over the years, Malta has been ruled by many different countries starting all the way back in 5200 BC where the first settlers arrived in Malta. These settlers are thought to have arrived by boat from Sicily and where hunters and farmers. The Greeks, Phoenicians, and Romans fought over Malta up until the Middle Ages. At that point it was given to the Knights of Malta around 1530 by Emperor Charles V. Some time before Britain took over in 1814, Napoleon even ruled the island. Britain had control over the island up until Malta's independence in 1964.
As far as education goes in Malta, Britain had a large impact. The university's educational system is a mixture of British and French principles as far as working hands on versus theoretical. This combination varied over time. In the 70s, the University of Malta actually shutdown to allow for growth of vocational schools. In the early years of Malta's development as a young nation, education was so highly coveted that all expenses were paid for students from kindergarten through undergraduate. Undergraduate fees have since been applied according to the needs of the economy.
Other topics discussed involved Malta's lack of water and demographics like religion, languages, and population.
No comments:
Post a Comment