Comment by BXLE_1-1-BitIs1
1 day ago
Arabic speakers are not necessarily Arabs. Indigenous populations became Arabic speakers during the spread of Islam.
We saw the same in Latin America with Spanish and Catholicism.
1 day ago
Arabic speakers are not necessarily Arabs. Indigenous populations became Arabic speakers during the spread of Islam.
We saw the same in Latin America with Spanish and Catholicism.
They may not be genetically Arab but are probably culturally Arab
Quick research, but it appears that the population are descendents of the Emirate of Sicily from 1000 AD, which was colonised by people from Tunisia, who would be considered Arabs generally. So a splinter group cut off from the main body for a thousand years (if my reading is correct).
Are they still Arabs? That's subjective.
I'd consider America and England two capitals of the Anglo empire much like Roman and Constantinople, but there is lots of room for nuance. (Romans & Byzantines saw themselves as the same, whereas Americans and English see themselves as different... but I chalk that up to the tyranny of small differences, just look at how the elites jump back and forth across the pond and how their politics harmonise, Trump/Farage, Reagan/Thatcher, Clinton/Blair).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_people#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Relationship