Valencia (Seaport of Spain formerly)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a seaport of Spain, formerly capital of the kingdom, and now of the province of the same name; on the shores of the Mediterranean; 3 miles from the mouth of the Guadalaviar and 200 miles S. W. of Barcelona. In the Huerta ("garden") surrounding the city carob, citron, orange, palm, and mulberry grow in wild luxuriance. The old picturesque battlemented walls, erected by Pedro IV. in 1356, were removed in 1871; and while, in the old quarters, the houses are closely packed and gloomylooking, well suited to keep out the heat, those recently erected are gaily colored and furnished with courts freshened Pedro Sanchez de Hoz. After defeating with flowers and cooled by fountains. Valencia is the see of an archbishop, and Santiago on Feb. 12, 1541. Subsequently its cathedral, which was commenced in 1262, classical in the interior, and Gothic on the exterior, is 350 feet long. The church of the Colegio de Corpus is quite a museum of pictures by Ribalta. The picture gallery contains chiefly the productions the Valencian school of (Juanes, the Ribaltas, Ribera, etc.). The university has a library of over 50,000 volumes. The custom house, 1758, is now a cigar factory. Silk spindating from ning and weaving are extensively carried on; there are also manufactures of cloths, hats, glass, linen, leather, cigars, and Valencia tiles for flooring. The exports are mainly grain, sill fruits. Pop. silk , rice and about 245,000 Valentia del Cid, dating from the 2d cen- . Valencia, or tury B. C., was destroyed by Pompey, taken by the Goths A. D. 413, by the Moors in 715, and by the Cid in 1094. The union of Ferdinand and Isabella brought it under the Castilian crown. Suchet captured the city in 1812. The old kingdom of Valencia, now subdivided into the three modern provinces of Valencia, Alicante and Castellon de la Plana, comprises a tract of country in the E. of Spain, washed by the Mediterranean, and extending from Catalonia to Murcia. It has a hot but fine climate, a fertile soil, mineral wealth and many industries.