Valencia, Spain

Valencia redirects here. For other referents by that name, please see Valencia (disambiguation).

Valencia (Spanish: Valencia, Valencian: València) is a medium-sized port city and industrial area on the east coast of Spain. It is the capital of the Valencian autonomous region and of the province of Valencia, and with over 800,000 people in the city and more than a million in the metropolitan area it is the third largest city in Spain.

It is famous for the Falles festival in 17-19 March and for paella Valenciana.

Valencia has a metro system [1], run by FGV.

History

Founded by the Romans in 137 BC on the site of a former Iberian town, by the river Turia. The city has been occupied by the Visigoths, Moors and the Aragonese. In 1094, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) conquered Valencia, but the city returned to the Almoravids in 1102. The king James I of Aragon reconquered the city in 1238 and incorporated it to the new formed Kingdom of Valencia.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Valencia was one of the major cities in the Mediterranean. The writer Joanot Martorell, author of Tirant lo Blanch, and the poet Ausias March are famous valencians of that era.

The first printing press in the Iberian Peninsula was located in Valencia. The first printed Bible in a romance language, Catalan, was printed in Valencia circa 1478, attributed to Bonifaci Ferrer.

The valencian jewish banker Luis de Santangel loaned funds to Queen Isabella for Columbus' trip in 1492.

War of the Germanies 1519-1522.

Expulsion of Moriscos in 1609.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Valencia sided with Charles of Austria. After the victory of the Bourbons at the Battle of Almansa (April 25 of 1707), the city lost its privileges or furs.

In the Spanish Civil War, Valencia was filled by republicans arriving to the last capital of the Republic in the last days of the war. The city suffered from the blockade and siege by Franco's forces. The postwar period was hard for Valencians. Valencian was illegal to teach or to speak throughout the Franco years, using the language at all was subject to criminal penalties.

Valencia was granted Autonomous Statutes in 1982.