or “azulejos,” and its oranges. Linen, woollen and esparto fabrics, hats, fans, leather, paper, cigars, glass and pottery are also manufactured, and there are foundries and printing works. Corn, rice, silk, saffron, oranges, raisins, almonds, figs and other fruits are extensively exported, and iron, hardware, timber, manure, grain and colonial produce are imported.
The port and the village of Villanueva del Grao are 3 m. E. by N. of Valencia, and are connected with it by two railways and two tramways. The harbour works, begun in 1792 at local expense, have been steadily improved, and now provide many facilities for loading or discharging on the moles and wharves. During the five years, 1901–5, about 2600 ships of 1,500,000 tons entered at the port every year. About 2000 of these were Spanish, including a large number of small coasters. The majority of the foreign ocean-going ships were British. The fishing fleet of El Grao comprises about 600 boats with 2800 hands. About 1 m. N. is the town of Pueblo Nuevo del Mar or El Cabanal, to which large numbers of the Valencians migrate in summer for sea-bathing.
The earliest historical mention of Valencia (Valentia) is by Livy (Epit. lv.), according to whom Junius Brutus settled the soldiers of Viriathus here in 138 B.C., and invested the town with the jus Latinum. It sided with Sertorius (c. 77 B.C.), and was accordingly taken and partially destroyed by Pompey in 75 B.C.; but it must have recovered speedily, as it is mentioned by Pliny (iii. 4) as a colony in the region of the Edetani, and by Mela as an important place. It was taken by the Visigoths in A.D. 413, and by the Moors in 714. After the downfall of the caliphate of Cordova, an independent Moorish kingdom of Valencia was established in 1021, and extended along the coast from Almeria to the Ebro estuary. The Almoravides occupied the city in 1094, but it was retaken within a few months by the Christians under the Cid (q.v.), from whom it is sometimes called Valencia del Cid. The Moors recovered possession in 1101 and the kingdom was re-established in 1146. After 1172 it became tributary to Aragon, and in 1238 James I. of Aragon added it to his dominions. The first Spanish printing-press is said to have been set up here in 1474. Towards the close of the 15th century Valencia was annexed to Castile and placed under the rule of a viceroy. In the 16th and 17th centuries it became the seat of a considerable school of painting, of which Vicente Juanes (1523–1579) may be regarded as the founder, and to which belonged also Francisco de Ribalta (1550–1628), Juan de Ribalta (1597–1628), José Ribera (1588–1656), Pedro Orrente (1560–1644) and J. G. Espinosa (1600–1680). In the beginning of the 17th century Valencia and its surrounding district suffered greatly from the expulsion of the Moriscos, its most industrious and enterprising cultivators. In the War of Succession Valencia sided emphatically with the house of Austria, for which it was punished by being deprived of many of its ancient privileges. In 1808 an abortive attempt to capture it was made by the French; they succeeded, however, in 1812, and held it till June 1813. Queen Christina signed her abdication at Valencia in 1840.
VALENCIA, a city of Venezuela and capital of the state of Carabobo, 111 m. by rail W.S.W. of Caracas, and 24 m. direct
(33½ m. by rail) S. by E. of Puerto Cabello. Pop. (1894) 38,654.
There is railway connexion with Caracas by the Great Venezuela
line (German) and with Puerto Cabello by the Puerto Cabello
and Valencia line (English), which crosses the N. range of the
Maritime Andes. There is also a steamboat service on Lake
Valencia. The city is situated on the N.W. border of a lacustrine
plain occupied in great part by Lake Tacarigua, or Valencia[1] and
nearly 2 m. from its western margin. It is beautifully situated
in a large fertile valley between parallel ranges of the Maritime
Andes, about 1625 ft. above sea-level, and in the midst of rich
plantations and luxuriant tropical vegetation. The climate is
mild and pleasant, the temperature ranging from 66° to 87° F.
with an annual mean of 76°, and the rainfall being about the same as that of Caracas, or 23 to 30 in. Near Valencia on the Puerto
Cabello railway are the Las Trincheras thermal springs. Among
Valencia's public edilices and institutions are some good churches,
the government palace, a university, a national college for women,
al normal school for men and a public library.
Valencia was founded in 1555 and is older than Caracas. It
was occupied for a time in 1561 by Aguirre and his band of outlaws.
At the beginning of the War of Independence it was made
the capital of Venezuela, and the patriot congress was in session
there in 1812 when Caracas was destroyed by an earthquake.
It changed masters several times during the war, its most famous
events being two successful defences in 1814 against, Spanish
besieging forces. The town suffered much in the war and from
subsequent revolutions, but the remarkable productiveness
of the surrounding districts and its advantageous commercial
position ensured a prompt recovery from all reverses.
VALENCIA DE ALCÁNTARA, a town of western Spain, in the province of Cáceres; on the Madrid-Cáceres-Lisbon railway,
near the right bank of the Sever, a small stream which here
divides Spain from Portugal. Pop. (1900) 9417. Valencia de
Alcántara is the most important custom-house for direct traffic
between the Peninsular kingdoms except Badajoz, and has a
flourishing trade in farm produce of all kinds, and in phosphates
from the neighbouring mines. The town is occupied by a
garrison, and retains its old-fashioned loopholed walls and
dismantled citadel. A Roman aqueduct still brings water to
the main street, and there are other Roman remains in the
district; the courtyards and windows of many houses are Moorish
in style. The interesting church of Roqueamador dates from the
14th century, the church of Encarnacion, the town hall and a
fine convent, from the 16th. From the 16th century to the 18th
Valencia was a celebrated border fortress; it was captured by the
Portuguese in 1664 and 1698.
VALENCIENNES, a town of northern France in the department of Nord on the Scheldt, at its confluence with the Rhonelle,
30 m. S.E. of Lille by rail. Pop. (1906), town, 25,977; commune,
31,759. The Scheldt here divides into two branches, one of
which flows through the town, while the other, canalized and
forming a port, skirts it on the west. Of the fortifications, dismantled
in 1892, and replaced by boulevards, the Tour de la
Dodenne (13th and 15th centuries) and the citadel (17th century)
are the chief remains. Valenciennes is the centre of a rich coalfield,
to which Anzin (q.v.), an industrial town a little over a
mile to the north-west, has given its name. To this fact is due
the existence of the important foundries, forges, rolling-mills,
wire-works and machine shops which line the bank of the Scheldt.
There is also an extensive beetroot cultivation, with attendant
sugar-works and distilleries, and glass, starch, chemicals and
soap are produced. Hosiery, trimmings and handkerchiefs
are manufactured and cotton weaving and printing are carried
on, though little of the famous lace is now made. Other
industries are brewing and malting. There are a sub-prefecture,
courts of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce,
a board of trade arbitration, and a branch of the Bank of France,
a lycée, a school of music and a school of fine art (founded in
1782). The town hall is a fine building of the early 17th century,
but its facade was rebuilt in 1867 and 1868. The museum
contains galleries of painting and sculpture, with works by
Antoine, Louis and François Watteau, Carpeaux, all of whom were natives of the town, and by Rubens and other Flemish artists. Opposite the museum there is a monument commemorating the defence of the town in 1793. The principal church is that of Notre-Dame du Cordon, a line modern building in the Gothic style surmounted by a tower 272 ft. in height. The church of St Géry preserves a few pillars dating from the 13th century. Near it stands the statue of Antoine Watteau, and there is also a statue of lean Froissart, born at Valenciennes.
Valenciennes is said to owe its name and foundation to one of the three Roman emperors named Valentinian. In the middle ages it was the seat of a count ship which in the 11th century was united to that of Hainaut. In the 16th century Valenciennes
- ↑ Lake Valencia occupies one of the so-called Aragua valleys, enclosed between the parallel ranges of the Maritime Andes. It is 1348 ft. above the sea, is about 30 m. long, has an area of 216 sq. m., and a catchment basin of 1782 sq. m., and lies partly in the state of Aragua. It includes a number of small islands, some inhabited, and receives the waters of a score of small streams from the surrounding mountains.
