Valencia (autonomous community)

Valencia, Valencian Country, Land of Valencia, Valencian Community or Region of Valencia (Comunitat Valenciana or País Valencià in Catalan, Comunidad Valenciana or País Valenciano in Spanish) is an autonomous community in eastern Spain. Between the Sénia and Segura rivers, it has 518 kilometers of coastline on the Mediterranean and covers 23,255 km² of land with 4.5 million inhabitants (ca. 2004). Valencia also administers the coastal Columbretes islands and Nova Tabarca. To a high degree, these borders reflect those of the historic Kingdom of Valencia.

Valencia's Statute of Autonomyhttp://www.gva.es/cidaj/cas/c-normas/5-1982.htm#N2 declares the official languages Castilian (name given to Spanish) and Valencian (name given to Catalan). Although the Spanish Constitution of 1978 obligates citizens to know Spanish throughout Spain, the statute grants Catalan special protected status, referring to it as the autonomous community's "own language" (llengua pròpia).

The origins of Valencia date back to the former Kingdom of Valencia, which came into existence in the 13th century. James I "the Conqueror" led Catalan and Aragonese colonization of the Islamic taifas of Valencia and Dénia. So the Kingdom of Valencia has been an independent country inside of the aragonese crown confederation until 1707, when the first Bourbon king of Castile and Aragon forbiden the constitution, language, institutions and laws of these kingdoms and subordinate them to Castilian structure creating the centralized Kingdom of Spain de facto. The first attempt to gain self-government for Valencian Country in modern-day Spain was during the 2nd Spanish Republic, in 1936 year, but the Civil War broke out and the Valencian autonomist project was suspended. Recently, Valencia is officially recognized as a nationality, after a bipartisn reform of the Valencian statute of autonomy.

The official flag of the Valencian Country is the same of Valencia's City flag, and it is a historical derivation from the senyera, heraldric symbol of the King of the Aragonese Crown, today used as flag of Catalonia. An important part of the Valencian society considers the original senyera as the actually flag of Valencian Country, and among others almost consider it as a common cultural symbol of the territories of the former Crown of Aragon, and the official flag as a Valencian privatised one.

Traditionally the land is divided into comarques, and in 1883 was, along with the rest of Spain, divided into provinces. There are 32 comarques, and three provinces: Castelló, València, and Alacant.

València (Spanish Valencia), population 796,549, capital of the province of the same name, on the river Turia. Famous festival of the Fallas on March 19.
Alacant (Spanish Alicante), population 319,380, capital of the province of the same name, in the Mediterranean coast. Famous for its hard nougat or turrón duro (Valencian torró dur) and Postiguet, Albufereta and San Joan Beaches. The famous festival of the Bonfires of Saint John is in June. Its city hall and the Santa Barbara Castle are historic monuments.
Elx (Spanish Elche), population 215,137, famous for the wood of the palm tree called Palmeral, and for the Misteri d'Elx, two-day festival of singing and street drama that acts out the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, declared by UNESCO as part of all humankind's oral heritage.
Castelló de la Plana (Spanish Castellón de la Plana), population 167,455, capital of the province of Castelló.
Torrevieja (Valencian Torrevella), population 84,348, in the south, important tourist center with many hotels, apartments and tourist accommodations; includes La Mata Beach.
Gandia, population 77,943, is another important tourist center, situated on the Costa del Azahar.
Orihuela (Valencian Oriola), population 75,009, on the Segura River, historic city with palaces, churches and the Cathedral, on the "Vega Baja" (Valencian Baix Segura), a highly productive area for farm products such as oranges, lemons and the like.
Benidorm, population 67,492, a major holiday resort, dubbed Beniyork because of its many skyscrapers, including Spain's tallest, the 52-story Gran Hotel Bali.
Elda, population 55,571, important production center for shoes and wine in the Vinalopo area.
Xixona (Spanish Jijona), population 7,494, near Alicante, famous for its soft nougat or torró de Xixona (Spanish turrón de Jijona).
Villena, population 34.000, important production of shoes and wine, with many historical and monumental visits. Also, fiestas of "Moros y Cristianos", one of the most important in the Community
Vila-real (Spanish Villarreal), population 46,696, important producer of ceramics and brick.
Buñol (Valencian Bunyol), population 9,404, famous for the tomatina, a town-wide tomato fight held the last Wednesday of August.
Ibi, population 23,059, a toy production center.

Major rivers:

Turia River (Valencian Túria)
Júcar River (Valencian Xúquer)
Segura River

Top of the Tower of Serrans, with the Valencian flag fluttering.

External links

http://www.landofvalencia.com Official tourism webpage.
[[wikitravel:Valencia (city)|Valencia]] on [[wikitravel:Main Page|Wikitravel]]
[subway metropolitan area]
[Valencia information in English]
[Valencia search engine]
[website for the true history of the Valencian Country (in catalan, if you don't know catalan search fot a translator because it's a very good website)]

[[zh-min-nan:Valencia Chū-chú Siā-lí]]

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Valencia (autonomous community)

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