The Maltese military landscape : the role of physical geography in shaping Malta’s military defence

Abstract

‘Geographical History’ is a term which has been adopted by geographers and historians to describe aspects of overlap, or relationships, between their two disciplines. Although not widely used, it has started regaining momentum in the last century, however there are still uncertainties as to what it exactly entails; its ‘...epistemological status... has been ambiguous’ (Baker, 2006). Further to this, according to Baker (2006) there are two key themes to this branch: one is the study of spatial distributions at given times in history, while the other is the physical geographical elements which affect historical development-both examined in this work. Our physical landscape has, in more ways than one, shaped our history. It has determined things such as human settlement and other more complex things such as defence and the importance of location. The strategic geographic location of the archipelago and its coveted harbours have made Malta a desirable piece of land through history and thus it has had a colourful history of numerous foreign occupiers. This study analyses the physical geography of the archipelago and specific geomorphological features so as to clearly state the importance of these in affecting, and even shaping, Malta’s history, specifically in terms of defence. Finally, this study gives a better understanding of the Physical and Historical aspects of Malta to give a clearer picture of how the natural Maltese environment affected the latter. This work uncovers how fortifications needed to be constructed in good locations which enhanced their defensive features. Keeping the landscape in mind was crucial as it could make or break their security. Besides geomorphology, geology also plays a crucial part in terms of stability of the defences. Time made these fortifications obsolete and therefore they needed to be updated while still taking into consideration the lay of the land and their distance from the coast.