The culture of Malta has been influenced by various societies that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the nations that ruled Malta for long periods of time prior to its independence in 1964.
The Maltese (Maltese: Maltin) people are an ethnic group native to Malta who speak Maltese, a Semitic language descended from Siculo-Arabic with a substantial Romance superstratum, and share a common Maltese history and culture characterised by Latin Catholicism, which remains the state religion. Malta, an island country in the Mediterranean Sea, is an archipelago that also includes an island of the same name together with the islands of Gozo (Maltese: Għawdex) and Comino (Maltese: Kemmuna); people of Gozo, Gozitans (Maltese: Għawdxin) are considered a subgroup of the Maltese.