Emigration from Malta
There only traces left of the Maltese communities in North Africa, most of them having been displaced, after the rise of independence movements, to places like Marseille, the United Kingdom or Australia.
Malta has always been a maritime nation and for centuries, there has been extensive interaction between Maltese sailors and fishermen and their counterparts around the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic Ocean.
More significantly, by the mid-19th century the Maltese already had a long history of migration to various places, including Egypt, Tripolitania, Tunisia, Algeria, Cyprus, the Ionian Islands, Greece, Sicily and Lampedusa.
Migrants would periodically return to Malta, bringing with them new customs and traditions that over time have been absorbed into mainstream Maltese culture.
For example, many Maltese emigrants rushed back to their homeland due to an outbreak of plague in Egypt in 1835 and again in 1840 during the Anglo-Egyptian crisis (see: London Straits Convention).
[1] According to Cassar Pullicino: in spite of a certain amount of isolation there must have been a measure of adaptation by Maltese emigrants to local customs, food and dress.
Besides, the frequent comings and goings of the Maltese in the 19th century must have facilitated the assimilation of at least some folklore material from North Africa that still needs to be identified.
[4] There is little trace left of the Maltese communities in North Africa, most of them having been displaced, after the rise of independence movements, to places like Marseille, the United Kingdom or Australia.
[7] From 1919 to the 1920s, British colonial authorities in Malta spoke favourably about Maltese emigration to Palestine, specifically to Haifa, Jerusalem and the area around Mount Carmel.
These efforts were supported by Governor of Malta Lord Methuen, Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe and English Catholic Archbishop Francis Bourne, but the idea was ultimately unsuccessful as the British offered no financial incentives, support for the project in Malta was limited and emigration to Palestine was increasingly dominated by Zionism.
In 1995, a section of Toronto's Junction neighborhood was given the name "Malta Village" in recognition of the strong Maltese community that remains to this day.
Group and mass migration gradually picked up, first, to Queensland and, after World War I, to Sydney whose automobile industry drew many.
While most emigrated to Australia from Malta, a number came from the United Kingdom where they had settled after having been expelled from Egypt, as holders of British passports, during the Suez Crisis.
In 2003 the employment of Maltese nationals with the European Union (EU) started in earnest in view of Malta's membership of the organisation.
[22] The first Maltese colony arrived in Brazil in 1912 on board the SS Province, that landed in the port city of Santos with 73 persons.
A second group of Maltese emigrants moved to Brazil in the 1920s, to work on the railroads; among them was Dominic Collier from Floriana, who held an administrative position in the São Paulo-Paraná railway company.
The Franciscan Order of Malta had been asked by the State of Paraná to send priests and sisters to the growing diocese of Jacarezinho.
This number was greatly reduced by emigration years after and almost completely wiped out by expulsions in 1956 due to the Maltese being British nationals.
Early in the 20th century the British undertook vast naval works and improvements to the existing fortifications of Gibraltar to make the rock practically impregnable.
The British needed married men so that their work would be continued by their children and as a consequence 80 people (40 families from 1815 until 1860) were transported to Corfu, whose descendants remain on the island today.
Because of the union with Greece, a number of Maltese families abandoned Corfu and settled in Cardiff, Wales, where their descendants still live.
The first families were: Agius, Azzoppardi, Arafam, Buhagiar, Bartolo, Caldies, Bonelli, Camensuli, Borg, Cassar Scalia, Boager, Fenech, Farruggia, Grech, Mizzi, Meilach, Micalef, Mallia, Ongres, Saliba, Sultan and Xuereb.
[30] Many Maltese continued to move to Libya for work, particularly after the thaw with the West of Qaddafi's regime in the 2000s, until the start of the Libyan civil war in 2011.
The first recorded Maltese migrant to New Zealand was Angelo Parigi, who is listed at St Patrick's Church in Auckland as having married 16-year-old RoseAnne McMullen on 4 July 1849.
Not surprisingly, Maltese migrants preferred settling in the coastal towns: Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Sfax, Djerba and Moknine, finding solace in the same sea which washed the shores of their homeland.
In the early decades of British rule, the economic situation was not prosperous, forcing thousands of Maltese to seek a better life across the sea.
The Emigration Department would arrange for prospective migrants to be interviewed by British firms in order to allow their passage to the UK to fill labour shortages.
British statistics, meanwhile, suggest that 8,110 Maltese migrants arrived in the same period, excluding students, diplomats, seamen, visitors and their families.
By 1967–69, 250 Maltese people per year were moving to the UK for seasonal work, mostly in the canning, ice cream manufacture and hotel and catering sectors.
This program led to increased emigration by the people of the island and made up approximately 8,000 Maltese who arrived to the United States between the years 1947 and 1977.
