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Ta' Għemmuna Battery
Ta' Għemmuna Battery () was an artillery battery in St. Julian's, Malta, that was built by Maltese insurgents during the French blockade of 1798–1800. The battery was located at Dragonara Point, in front of the Hospitaller entrenchments at Spinola. The battery had a large parapet with nine embrasures and a magazine. It was armed with seven guns, which had been taken from St. Mary's Tower and St. Paul's Bay. The battery was built by Vincenzo Borg in February 1799, after a French force of around 30 ships was sighted close to the Maltese coast. The battery was built to prevent a French relief force from landing at St. Julian's Bay and St. George's Bay, therefore protecting other insurgent positions from the rear. The battery had a hexagonal parapet design which was designed by Francesco Sammut on payment by Borg. A rough sketch of the battery by Sammut still exists and was retrieved by the architect Andre Zammit. The battery still existed in 1811, but it was eventually demolis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications Of Malta
The fortifications of Malta consist of a number of walled cities, citadels, forts, Watchtower, towers, Artillery battery, batteries, redoubts, Entrenchment (fortification), entrenchments and Pillbox (military), pillboxes. The fortifications were built over hundreds of years, from around 1450 BC to the mid-20th century, and they are a result of the Malta, Maltese islands' strategic position and natural harbours, which have made them very desirable for various powers. The earliest known fortifications in Malta are defensive walls built around Bronze Age settlements. The Phoenicians, Roman Empire, Romans and Byzantine Empire, Byzantines built a number of defensive walls around important settlements, but very little remains of these survive today. By the late medieval period, the main fortifications on Malta were the capital Mdina, the Cittadella (Gozo), Cittadella on Gozo, the Fort St. Angelo, Castrum Maris and a few coastal towers or lookout posts. The fortifications of Malta we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragonara Palace
Dragonara Palace (), also known as Palazzo Dragonara or Villa Dragonara, is a palace in St. Julian's, Malta. It was built in 1870 as a summer residence for the Scicluna family, and it is now a casino called Dragonara Casino. Etymology The palace is named after Dragonara Point, the peninsula on which it was built. According to local legend, a dragon lived in caves near the peninsula whose roars reached the shore. The roaring was probably the sound of the waves breaking the rocks or the howling of the wind. It is believed that the rumours of the dragon were spread by smugglers to discourage people from going to the area. History The Dragonara Palace was built in 1870 on Dragonara Point, which had been previously occupied by Ta' Għemmuna Battery. The peninsula where it is built was originally known as Għemmuna Point. The palace served as the summer residence of Emmanuele Scicluna, a banker who became a marquis in 1875. During World War I, it was temporarily used as an office ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1799 Establishments In Malta
Events January–March * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January 17 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed. * January 21 – The Parthenopean Republic is established in Naples by French General Jean Étienne Championnet; King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies flees. * January 27 – French Revolutionary Wars: Macau Incident – French and Spanish warships encounter a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago of China inconclusively. * February 9 – Quasi-War: In the single-ship action of USS ''Constellation'' vs ''L'Insurgente'' in the Caribbean, the American ship is the victor. * February 28 – French Revolutionary Wars: Action of 28 February 1799 – British Royal Navy frigate HMS ''Sybille'' defeats the French frigate ''Forte'' o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limestone Buildings In Malta
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science), crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Limestone forms when these minerals Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water containing dissolved calcium. This can take place through both biological and nonbiological processes, though biological processes, such as the accumulation of corals and shells in the sea, have likely been more important for the last 540 million years. Limestone often contains fossils which provide scientists with information on ancient environments and on the evolution of life. About 20% to 25% of sedimentary rock is carbonate rock, and most of this is limestone. The remaining carbonate rock is mostly Dolomite (rock), dolomite, a closely related rock, which contains a high percentage of the mineral Dolomite (mine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vernacular Architecture In Malta
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More narrowly, a particular language variety that does not hold a widespread high-status perception, and sometimes even carries social stigma, is also called a vernacular, vernacular dialect, nonstandard dialect, etc. and is typically its speakers' native variety. Regardless of any such stigma, all nonstandard dialects are full-fledged varieties of language with their own consistent grammatical structure, sound system, body of vocabulary, etc. Overview Like any native language variety, a vernacular has an internally coherent system of grammar. It may be associated with a particular set of vocabulary, and spoken using a variety of accents, styles, and registers. As American linguist John McWhorter describes about a number of dialects spoken in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Occupation Of Malta
The island of Malta was occupied by France from 1798 to 1800. The Knights Hospitaller surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte following the French landing in June 1798. In Malta, the French established a constitutional tradition in Maltese history (as part of the French Republic), granted free education for all, and theoretically established freedom of the press, although only the pro-French newspaper ''Journal de Malte'' was actually published during the occupation. The French abolished nobility, slavery, the feudal system, and the inquisition. The only remaining architectural reminder of the French occupation is probably the defacement of most coats of arms on the façades of buildings of the knights. The Maltese soon Siege of Malta (1798–1800), rebelled against the French and drove the French garrison into Valletta and the Grand Harbour fortifications where they were besieged for more than two years. The French surrendered Malta when their food supplies were about to run out. Fren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demolished Buildings And Structures In Malta
Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for reuse purposes. For small buildings, such as houses, that are only two or three stories high, demolition is a rather simple process. The building is pulled down either manually or mechanically using large hydraulic equipment: elevated work platforms, cranes, excavators or bulldozers. Larger buildings may require the use of a wrecking ball, a heavy weight on a cable that is swung by a crane into the side of the buildings. Wrecking balls are especially effective against masonry, but are less easily controlled and often less efficient than other methods. Newer methods may use rotational hydraulic shears and silenced rockbreakers attached to excavators to cut or break through wood, steel, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Installations Established In 1799
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform. They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats. In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police. Beyond warfare, the military may be employed in additional sanctioned and non-sanctioned functions within the state, including internal security threats, crowd control, promotion of political agendas, emergency services and reconstruction, prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artillery Battery Fortifications In Malta
Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons were developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower. Originally, the word "artillery" referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, "artillery" has largely meant cannon, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to shell-firing guns, howitzers, and mortars (collectively called ''barrel artillery'', ''cannon artillery'' or ''gun artillery'') and rocket artillery. In common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese language, Maltese and English language, English. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the EU by both area and population. It was also the first World Heritage Site, World Heritage City in Europe to become a European Capital of Culture in 2018. With a population of about 542,000 over an area of , Malta is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, tenth-smallest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population density, ninth-most densely populated. Various sources consider the country to consist of a single urban region, for which it is often described as a city-state. Malta has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, during the Mesolith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
