There are between 6,000 and 10,000 islands and islets in the Mediterranean Sea, most of which are uninhabited. One of them has two inhabitants. Throughout the last 23 centuries, pirates, hermits, prisoners of war, exiled knights, farmers and tourists have settled on this island.
Some 80 years ago, one of the German prisoners of World War I held there, built a water mill driven by a rat. Apart from rats, bats and wild rabbits, most of the inhabitants there have been pigs.
Over 2,500 years ago, the navigator Scillace called it ‘Lampas’. Cluverius called it ‘Hephaestia’. And 1,800 years ago, Ptolemy referred to it as ‘Chemmona’. ‘Kineni’ in Greek means nearest to and Comino lies nearest to Malta. The Arabs called it ‘Kemmuna’, perhaps a corruption of the Greek word or a reference to the plant of ‘kemmun’ (cumin), which covered large areas of the island at the time.
In 1285, Abulafia, one of the earliest Cabalists and born in Saragossa in 1240, arrived on Comino to live there for three years during which he compiled his “Sefer ha-Ot” (The Book of the Sign).
Five years before he found refuge in Comino, Abulafia went to Rome to convert Pope Nicholas III to the ideal that Moslems, Jews and Christians could live together in harmony, instead of persecuting one another. He fled to Comino after being flung into prison for four weeks in Rome and then having to leave Palermo hastily as his teachings were considered too dangerous and he was going to be stoned by the people.
While Abulafia lived in a cave at one end of the island, at the other end pirates sheltered in the bays and caves which were excellent hiding places for them for many centuries. We know of at least two local hermits who lived there for some time. A small Catholic community must have lived there over 600 years ago, big enough to sustain a medieval chapel.
The island was probably abandoned when the raids by corsairs became frequent, as the inhabitants had no fortifications in which to seek refuge. In the 15th century, taxes had been collected by imposing an excise duty on wine imported from Sicily but the money was not used for the tower that had been planned for Comino. In 1533, Grand Master l’Isle Adam also commissioned a plan for a tower on the island but, again, this project fizzled out.
Grand Master Wignacourt built the existing tower in 1620 and 30 soldiers were stationed there. At this time, knights who had misbehaved in Malta were punished by being sent to Comino. The island was to serve as a prison camp on a number of occasions. At the end of the French occupation, Comino was used for French prisoners, Maltese who were accused of spying for the French and common criminals.
Over 150 years ago, farmers from Naxxar settled on Comino and started growing crops. The 1881 population census for the Maltese Islands tells us that 20 males and 13 females lived in Comino. Ten years later, the population had increased by 10: 25 males and 18 females. Nearly half of the inhabitants, 17, were children under the age of five.
We must save Comino from the overdevelopment that we have allowed in Malta and that we are allowing in Gozo- Evarist Bartolo
In 1912, Comino served as a site for an isolation hospital for cholera victims. Soldiers wounded in the war of the Dardanelles were also sent to Comino for treatment. The hospital building still stands there.
Several times during the last 200 years, there were several big projects to make use of Comino, including a pig farm set up in 1979 following a swine fever epidemic which wiped out most of Malta’s pig population. It closed in 2011.
More than just a rock
Comino is a small rock that has seen almost as many twists and turns of fate as its larger sister islands. We must save it from the overdevelopment that we have allowed in Malta and that we are allowing in Gozo.
We have been promised that, this summer, we will not have another jungle of deckchairs at the Blue Lagoon. But, now, Comino is facing a much more serious threat and we must support the environmental organisations that are calling on the public to oppose plans to overdevelop it by building a complex of 19 villas, a convenience store and amenities, apart from a new hotel.
Birdlife Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth Malta, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust Malta – FEE and the Ramblers’ Association of Malta are doing the right thing by appealing the Environment and Resources Authority’s approval of the project before the Planning Tribunal.
They say it is shocking that such a development is even being considered. The public should take the opportunity to express their frustration at this proposed development and remind the Planning Authority that their duty does not lie with developers and big business but towards the greater good ‘on behalf of the community to provide a balanced and sustainable environment’, as per its mission statement.
They remind us that Comino is designated as a Rural Conservation Area, a Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area, an Important Bird Area of International and EU Importance, a Natura 2000 site, a Bird Sanctuary and a Dark Sky Heritage site.
“Instead of safeguarding biodiversity and the delicate ecological balance of this Natura 2000 site, ERA has approved the extensive urbanisation of the island, the uprooting of 380 protected trees and the denaturation of the site.”
Objections to application PA/4777/20 can be submitted to the Planning Authority by January 23 online at: https://pa.movimentgraffitti.org/permit/24.
Evarist Bartolo is a former Labour foreign and education minister.