Valletta, Malta
Malta is a southern European country in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Sicily, 284 km east of Tunisia and 333 km north of Libya. The country covers just over 316 km2, making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which is also the smallest capital in the EU at 0.8 km2. Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Malta's location as a naval base has given it great strategic importance throughout history, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Romans, Moorish, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St. John, French and the British have ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004; in 2008, it became part of the eurozone. Malta has a long Christian legacy and is an Apostolic see. According to the Acts of the Apostles, St.Paul was shipwrecked on Malta. Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. Malta is a favoured tourist destination with its warm climate, numerous recreational areas, and architectural and historical monuments, including nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, Valletta and seven Megalithic Temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.
 
These images acquired over Malta, and focused over the city of Valletta in a time window of 30 years by the Landsat 5 and 8 satellites; aim to show all the infrastructural changes around the capital city. In fact, with this type of image, the overlay window is the best mode to see the changes. Another aim of these images is to promote the opportunity to download Landsat data through the ESA portals, where images captured every day are made available in near real time to the users and the scientific community. For more information see the links below:   View Landsat 5 TM high resolution image [JPG 602 KB] View Landsat 8 OLI high resolution image [JPG 577 KB]
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