Valencia, the old capital of the kingdom of Valencia and now chief town of its province, Spain's third largest city, the see of an archbishop and a university town, lies close to the Mediterranean on the right bank of the Río Turia (known to the Arabs as the Guadalaviar, the "White River"), in the
fertile Huerta de Valencia. Described in an ancient saying as "a piece of heaven fallen to earth", Valencia is a typically southern town with its bustling streets and the brightly colored azulejo domes of its many churches. The climate is unusually mild and predominantly dry.
History
Originally a Greek settlement, Valencia later fell into the hands of the Carthaginians, and in the second century B.C. became the Roman colony of Valentia, which rose to prosperity in the reign of Augustus. In 413 it passed to the Visigoths and in 714 to the Moors, who called it Medina bu-Tarab ("City of Joy"). After the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba Valencia and the adjoining coastal region became an independent kingdom, which was conquered by the Almoravids in 1092. Two years later it was recovered by the Cid, but in 1102 it again fell into Moorish hands. Under Mohammed ibn Said it became the capital of a Moorish kingdom until its reconquest by Jaime I of Aragon (Jaime el Conquistador) in 1238. During the War of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the 18th Century Valencia supported the Habsburgs. In 1808 the town rose against the French. During the Civil War, in 1936-37, it was the seat of the Republican government, and it was the last Republican stronghold to fall to Franco on March 30, 1939, two days after Madrid.
Print this page
Add to Favorites
