Valletta is on the northeast coast of the island of Malta. It is the city and main port of Malta. The city’s center is on Mount Sceberras’s pointy cliff that sticks out into the water like a tongue and splits the bay into two harbors, Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west.

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A view of Valletta, Malta, at sunset.

It was built after the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, which stopped the Ottomans from taking over southern Europe. It was named for Jean Parisot de la Valette, who was grand master of the order of Hospitallers (Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) and became the capital of Malta in 1570. It was the French who drove out the Hospitallers in 1798. In 1800, the British took Valletta after a revolt by the Maltese against the French troops. After 1814, the city became a major naval and military base for the British in the Mediterranean. During World War II, it was hit by heavy bombing raids, and in 1943, the Italian fleet gave up and submitted.