Land of Valencia

Comunitat Valenciana
Comunidad Valenciana

Capital	Valencia
Official languages	Valencian (Catalan) and Spanish (Castilian)
Area  – total  – % of Spain	Ranked 8th  23 255 km²  4,6%
Population  – Total (2003)  – % of Spain  – Density	Ranked 4th  4 326 708  10,3%  186,05/km²
Demonym  – English  – Valencian  – Spanish	Valencian  valencià/valenciana  valenciano/valenciana
Statute of Autonomy	July 10, 1982
ISO 3166-2	VC
Parliamentary representation  Congress seats  Senate seats	32  5
President	Francisco Enrique Camps Ortiz (PP)
Generalitat Valenciana

The Land of Valencia is the historical territory of the ancient Kingdom of Valencia wich was created in the 13th century, because of christian colonization by catalonians and aragoneses of the islamic taifas Valencia and Dénia, commanded by James I "the Conqueror". It's located at the East of Iberian Peninsula, between the Sènia and Segura rivers, and it has 840 kms. of terrestrial border and 518 kms. of length with the Mediterranean Sea, where there are the island of Nova Tabarca and the Columbretes islands, wich are under Valencian administration.

Politically, today it's an autonomous community of Spain with Comunitat Valenciana (Comunidad Valenciana in Spanish) as official name since 1982, when its Statute of Autonomy was approved. It's also known as País Valencià (Sp. País Valenciano), and this denomination is also included in the same Statute. By the way, it's bordered by the West with Castile-La_Mancha and Aragon, by the South with the Region of Murcia , and by North with Catalonia. The official languages are Castillian (Spanish) and Valencian (Catalan), altough the last one is considered legally as its own language, according the "Law of Use and Education of Valencian" approved in 1983.

Traditionally its territorial division are the comarcas that are, as well, grouped into spanish provinces created in 1833. There are 32 comarcas, and the provinces of Castellón/Castelló, Valencia/València, and Alicante/Alacant.

Major Valencian cities and notable towns include:

• Valencia (Valencian València) 780.653, capital of the province of the same name, in the river Turia. Famous festival of the Fallas in March 19.
• Alicante (Valencian Alacant) 316.178, 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 Juan Beaches. The famous festival of the Bonfires of Saint John is in June. The city hall and the Santa Barbara Castle are historical monuments.
• Castellón de la Plana (Valencian Castelló de la Plana) 160.714, capital of the province of the same name.
• Elche (Valencian Elx) 207.163, famous for the wood of palm trees called Palmeral, and for the Mystery Play, which has been declared part of World Heritage by the UNESCO.
• Torrevieja (Valencian Torrevella) 77.943, in the south, very important touristic centre with a lot of hotels, apartments and touristical houses. With La Mata Beach.
• Orihuela (Valencian Oriola) 67.731, in the Segura river, historical city with palaces, churches and the Cathedral, in the "Vega Baja" (Valencian Vega Baixa), a very rich kitchen garden with oranges, lemon and other products.
• Benidorm 64.267, a major holiday resort, dubbed Beniyork because of its many skyscrapers — including Spain's tallest, the 52-storey Gran Hotel Bali.
• Elda,54.086 important producer of shoes and wine in the Vinalopo land.
• Jijona (Valencian Xixona), near Alicante, famous for its soft nougat or turrón de Jijona (Valencian torró de Xixona).
• Villarreal (Valencian Vila-real), important producer of ceramics and brick.
• Buñol (Valencian Bunyol) famous for the Tomatina, on the last Wednesday of August.

Major rivers:

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