Changes to settlement pattern as a result of the Malta railway

Abstract

As a geography student, this dissertation is a study of the employment of geographical scientific methods in an endeavour to expand the frontiers of knowledge in the area of population settlement pattern development in Malta during the period 1800 to 1940. This study includes the gathering, organisation, description, analysis and interpretation of historical, census and cartometric data in relation to their geographic distribution, characteristics, and changing numbers in the population of Malta during an era when the Malta railway was in operation between 1883 and 1931. The material presented attempts to analyse data pertaining to the number of inhabitants and inventories of those localities, associated and traversed by the railway at the time. Special attention is also given to determine any relationships and trends in settlement patterns of these localities. From the results of this study, evidence shows that although all localities have shown an increase in their population, during a period when the development of mechanised transportation in Malta was in its infancy, the localities through which the railway traversed grew more rapidly than others did.