Example of XML
<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8"?>
The first line is an XML declaration
<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>XML declaration may consists the version number of XML, the encoding character set[optional] and the standalone declaration[optional].
Version number of XML
XML version 1.1 must have a declaration leaving this out means it's an XML 1.0.Encoding
If Encoding pseudo-attribute wasn't declared it depends on the unicode character either have UTF-8, UTF-16 or UTF-32 and according to W3C suggestion it's better to declare this attribute to "UTF-8" for all content, you can find the other character sets here » http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets/character-sets.xhtmlStandalone
The default value of standalone psuedo-attribute is no and means there is an external markup declaration, no need to declare this attribute if you don't use DTD.XML tags must be closed properly
Apple <fruit color="Red" />
And XML tags are case-sensitive
This is true <note>This is false</Note>
I hope this simple explanation of XML could help you to make your own XML Sitemap.