Valencia

Valencia (ancient Valentia), city in eastern Spain, capital of Valencia autonomous region and of Valencia Province, on a fertile plain near the mouth of the Tura River in the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the largest cities in Spain and a centre for agricultural marketing, manufacturing, and communications. Industrial establishments in the city include textile mills, chemical works, metalworks, shipyards, and breweries.

Valencia is the centre of an archbishopric. It is also the site of the University of Valencia (1499) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (1968). A museum of fine arts and an art school are in the city. Two gates remain from the 14th-century city walls built on Roman foundations. Among important buildings in Valencia are the Gothic cathedral (13th-15th century) and the 15th-century Gothic silk exchange which, in 1996, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to the Roman historian Livy, Roman soldiers occupied the site of Valencia in 138 bc. Pompey the Great partly destroyed the city in 75 bc during his campaign against the armies of the rebel leader Quintus Sertorius. Valencia remained under Roman control until ad 413, when it was captured by the Visigoths. The Moors took it from the Visigoths in 714, and in 1021 they made it the capital of the independent kingdom of Valencia. Thereafter Valencia shared the fortunes of the kingdom. The city had a high level of prosperity until the early 17th century, when a commercial decline set in with the expulsion of Moorish traders. During the Peninsular War, Valencia was held by the French from 1812 to 1813. It was the capital of the Republican government for a time during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Population 797,654 (2007).