On this day in ...
... 1964 (45 years ago today), Malta won independence from Britain. Situated in the Mediterranean, the island nation "voluntarily became part of the British Empire" in 1814, having evicted French rulers, with British help, in 1800. (credit for photo of Valletta, Malta's capital) Subsequently a base for Britain's Navy, "Malta survived relentless raids from German and Italian military forces" in World War II. Today Malta, which is about twice the size of the District of Columbia, has 412,600 people. It's among "the most densely populated countries in the world" -- about 3,000 persons per square mile, compared with about 55 per square mile in the United States.
