I. An Ancient Kingdom Of Spain

An Ancient Kingdom Of Spain, bounded N. by Catalonia, E. and S. E. by the Mediterranean, S. W. by Murcia, W. by New Castile, and N. W. by Aragon; area, 8,897 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 1,401,833. It comprised the modern provinces of Castellon, Valencia, and Alicante. The principal rivers, all of which rise in the country W. of Valencia, are the Guadalaviar, the Jucar and its tributary the Magro, the Palancia, Mijares, and Segura. The interior parts are mountainous, while the land upon the coast and on the banks of the numerous rivers is generally level. In some places high rugged mountains come close to the sea. The Sierra de Penaquila, which terminates in Cape San Martin, traverses the province of Alicante in a N. E. direction. The other ranges are irregular, but for the most part lie nearly E. and W. The ores of iron, copper, cobalt, quicksilver, lead, and silver are found. Superior facilities for irrigation render Valencia the most fertile district of Spain, and in some places several crops are raised in a year. Wine is produced in large quantities.

The climate is noted for its mildness and salubrity. - Under the Moors Valencia formed part of the caliphate of Cordova, but it was taken from them by the Cid in 1094. They reconquered it in 1101, and on the dissolution of the realm of the Almoravides it became an independent kingdom; but the Moors were finally expelled in 1238. It afterward became a province of the kingdom of Aragon, retaining however the title of reino de Valencia. II. A province occupying the centre of the ancient kingdom, bordering on the Mediterranean and the provinces of Castellon, Teruel, Cuenca, Albacete, and Alicante; area, 4,352 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 665,141. The rivers Guadalaviar and Jucar which intersect it, supply a system of irrigating canals, watering more than 100,000 acres. The chief crops of the irrigated lands are wheat, barley, oats, rye, lucerne, maize, beans, hemp, rice, oranges, and mulberries; of the unirrigated lands, the grape, olive, carob, fig, date, and esparto grass. About 4,000 acres are devoted to orange culture, which has become very important. The mountainous districts are clothed with forests of fine timber, and there are valuable marble quarries in the interior and fisheries on the coast.

Large numbers of sheep and goats are raised, and the silkworm is extensively cultivated.

III. A City (Anc. Valentia)

A City (Anc. Valentia), capital of the province and of the ancient kingdom, on the river Guadalaviar, about 2 m. from the sea, 190 m. E. S. E. of Madrid; pop. about 110,000. The old city is surrounded by a circular wall, built in 1356, 30 ft. high and 10 ft. thick, which has eight gates. Its streets are crooked and narrow, and the houses high and gloomy; but the suburbs beyond the walls are handsomely laid out and well built. A quay planted with shade trees extends along the river, which is crossed by five bridges. Among the public buildings are the cathedral, begun in 1262 and enlarged in 1482, the interior of which is richly adorned with marbles and many fine pictures; the episcopal palace, custom house, chamber of commerce, court house, theatre, academy of the fine arts, school of commerce, medical institute, several hospitals and asylums, and many churches and suppressed convents. The university, founded in 1410, has a library of about 45,000 volumes and a museum of natural history, and there is another library of 11,000 volumes in the bishop's palace. The national museum, in one of the suppressed convents, contains several hundred paintings of the Valencian school.

The botanic garden has the finest collection of exotic plants in Spain. The fashionable promenade is the Alameda, whose long avenue, adorned with fountains and trees, leatls to the Grao or port of Valencia. The harbor is formed by a semicircular curve in the beach, ½ m. in diameter, with two moles extending seaward, one 5,833, the other 3,589 ft. long. An inner port is formed by two arms extending from the moles across the curve, and enclosing an area of 110,000 square yards. It is defended by two batteries of 12 guns each, situated on the shore on each side of the Grao. The principal manufactures of Valencia are silks, linen and woollen goods, bagging and cordage, hats, gloves, fans, combs, leather, glass, paper, painted tiles, soap, iron ware, and pottery. The exports are oranges, nuts, raw silk, wine, esparto, raisins, and saffron. Of these, oranges form the most important item; the export of the crop of 1873'4 was 523,717 cases, of which Great Britain took 440,859 cases, and the United States 60,984. During the same season 163 steamers engaged in the orange trade loaded in the port.

The wine is shipped chiefly to France. The total value of the exports to the United States for the year ending Sept. 30, 1874, was $332,392. About 3,000 vessels, native and foreign, visit the port annually. - Valencia was a town of the Edetani in Hispania Tarraconensis. At a later period it became a Roman colony, in which D. Junius Brutus settled the soldiers of Viriathus about 138 B. C. It was destroyed by Pompey, but was soon restored. The Moors took it from the Goths in 713, and it was captured from them in the spring of 1094, after a siege of 20 months. In 1101 they retook it, but were forced to surrender it in 1238. In the war of the succession Valencia was opposed to the French, in consequence of which it lost its privileges in the reign of Philip V. In June, 1808, the French, under Gen. Moncey, attempted to take it; but though it was abandoned by the generals and nobles, the people, under Rico, a monk, made a gallant defence, and compelled the enemy to retire with great loss. It was afterward (Jan. 9, 1812) surrendered to Suchet by the Spanish general Blake.

Valencia #1

Valencia, a city of Venezuela, capital of the province of Carabobo, in a valley between the sierras San Diego and Guataparo, 18 m. from Puerto Cabello, its seaport, and 70 m. W. S. W. of Caracas; pop. in 1873, 28J544. In 1810 it was 3 m. W. of Valencia lake, which has so diminished from evaporation that it is now nearly 9 m. distant. The streets are broad and laid out at right angles to each other, but most of the houses are low and mean. There are no public buildings worthy of note, excepting the principal church, which stands in a large square. A brisk trade is carried on through Puerto Cabello, with which it is connected by a good road. - Valencia was founded in 1555. In 1558 it was attacked by Indians, who were repulsed with great loss. It suffered from the earthquake of 1812, and subsequently from the war of independence.