Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/57

Rh V A L V A L 43 occur. For the excellence and abundance of its grain crops Valladolid shares with La Mancha the title of granary of the peninsula. Besides the ordinary cereals and pulses, the province produces hemp, flax, various fruits, red and white wine, oil, and madder. The Montes de Torozos are well clad with oak and other timber. The pastures are extensive and large numbers of horses, mules, and sheep, as well as some cattle, are reared, while honey, wax, and silk are also produced. The woollen fabrics of Valladolid were once highly esteemed, but this industry has now greatly declined. Some trade is carried on, facilitated by the Canal of Castile, which connects Valladolid, on the Pisu- erga, with Alar del Rey, in Palencia, also on that river. The province is traversed by the national highways from Madrid to Santander, Leon, and Coruiia, and the Calatayud and Salamanca roads may also be regarded as trunk lines. It is also traversed from north to south by the northern railway, which has a branch from Valladolid to Rioseco. There are 11 partidos judiciales and 237 ayuntamientos. The most important places besides Valladolid, the capital (see below), are Medina de Rioseco (4776 inhabitants in 1877) and Medina del Campo (5296). VALLADOLID, capital of the above province, on the left bank of the Pisuerga, at its confluence with the Esgueva, which traverses the town by two channels, is situated (about 2250 feet above sea-level) 150 miles by rail to the north-west of Madrid. The site is in a small valley enclosed by steep and broken, though not very high, ground. The. town, which was formerly surrounded by walls and entered by four principal gates, contains some fine streets and squares, especially the so-called Plaza Mayor, but on the whole it has a dull and deserted aspect, though of late years its industrial and commercial activity has somewhat revived. The granite cathedral, begun in 1585, would, if carried out according to the original design of Herrera, be a magnificent specimen of the Grceco-Roman style of that architect ; only the nave, however, was ever completed, and the tower (one of four in the plan) fell in 1841. The interior is well proportioned, but bare. The tower and nave of the church of Sta Maria la Antigua date from about 1200. The church of San Pablo is later (1286); its chief feature of interest is a beautiful flam boyant portal, and formerly it had exquisite cloisters. Adjoining is San Gregorio (15th century) with a fine Plateresque facade. San Benito, dating from the end of the 14th century, is an elegant Gothic building with a lofty roof finely groined. The college of Santa Cruz, a Classical building founded in 1479, now houses a collection of pictures and sculptures of little value, except for some ex amples of Rubens and of the work of Berruguete. The university was founded in 1346 ; but the present Rococo building dates from the decadence of architecture in Spain. Among other public buildings of Valladolid may be men tioned the royal palace, built in the beginning of the 17th century, and the court-house and town-hall; several ex-convents are now used as barracks. Along the banks of the rivers are several public walks adorned with trees and fountains. The principal industries are the manu facture of linen, silk, and woollen fabrics, pottery, gold and silver work, leather, and paper. There is a considerable trade in the abundant agricultural produce of the vicinity. The population in 1877 was 52,206. Yalladolid is usually identified with the ancient Fintia of Ptolemy, described in the Itinerary as a town of the Vaccrei on the road from Asturica to Ca saraugusta. The present name is usually, but rather obscurely, explained as equivalent to Belcd Walid, &quot;the land of Walid.&quot; The town was recovered from the Moors in the 10th century, hut is first named in a public document by Sancho II. of Leon in 1072. The cortes of Castile frequently met here in the following centuries, and in the beginning of the 15th century John II. made it his principal residence. After the removal of the capital to Madrid by Philip II. in 1560 it began rapidly to decay. In December 1808 it was taken and sacked by the French, and in the January following Bonaparte resided here for some days, and caused the destruction of many fine buildings and works of art. Columbus died (1506) and Philip II. Was born (1527) at Valladolid. VALLADOLID, a city of the state of Michoacan de Ocampo, in Mexico. See MOKELIA. VALLADOLID, a town in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, lying towards the centre of the northern plateau, on the river Bolina, about 90 miles south-east of Merida, with which it is about to be connected by a railway. Valla dolid, which with the suburban district has a population (1885) of 18,470, mostly Indians and half-castes, is situ ated in the healthiest and best cultivated part of Yucatan, and is accordingly much frequented by invalids. The town is well built, with regular streets, and low but substantial houses, generally fronted by a garden plot and shady trees. Amongst its buildings are seven fine churches, a large Jesuit college, a town-hall, a hospital, and a well- constructed aqueduct. But like everything else in Yucatan the place presents a general appearance of decay, although there is a considerable local cotton industry. Some miles to the east lie the remarkable ruins of Chichen-Itza, covering a space of nearly two miles in circumference. Amongst these remains are several sonatos, or tanks, from 65 to 200 feet in diameter and 50 to 110 feet deep, with steep rocky sides, in which water is still stored. Valladolid is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in Yucatan, having been originally founded by Francesco de Montejo at a place called Chauachaa in 1543. But it was removed the next year to Zaqui, about 15 miles from the sea, with easy access to the port of El Cuyo, and soon after to its present position. VALLE, PIKTRO BELLA (1586-1652), to whom we owe one of the best books of Eastern travel, came of a noble Roman family which had produced two cardinals, and was born, on llth April 1586, in the family palace built by Cardinal Andrea. His early life was divided between the pursuits of literature and arms. He saw active service against the Moors of Barbary, but also became a member of the Roman Academy of the Umoristi, and acquired some reputation as a versifier and rhetorician. To the latter quality we owe some tedious passages in his Travels ; but that book gives also sufficient evidence of solid and useful learning in the classical authors, which served him well, particularly in the first part of his wanderings. The idea of travelling in the East was suggested by a disap pointment in love, as an alternative to suicide, and was ripened to a fixed purpose by a visit to the learned Mario Schipano, professor of medicine in Naples, to whom the record of Pietro s travels was addressed in the form of very elaborate letters, based on a full diary. Before leaving Naples he took a vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and, sailing from Venice on 8th June 1614, reached Con stantinople, where he remained for more than a year, and acquired a good knowledge of Turkish and a little Arabic. On 25th September 1615 he sailed for Alexandria with a suite of nine persons, for he travelled always as a noble man of distinction, and with every advantage due to his rank. From Alexandria he went on to Cairo, and, after an excursion to Mount Sinai, left Cairo for the Holy Land on 8th March 1616, in time to assist at the Easter cele brations at Jerusalem. Having sedulously visited the holy sites, he journeyed by Damascus to Aleppo, and thence to Baghdad, where he married a Syrian Christian named Maani, a native of Mardin. He now desired to visit Persia ; but, as that country was then at war with Turkey, he had to leave Baghdad by stealth (4th January 1617). Accom panied by his wife, who was the courageous and constant companion of his Persian journeys until her death in con sequence of a miscarriage (30th December 1621), he pro ceeded by Hamadan to Ispahan, and joined Shah Abbas in a campaign in northern Persia, in the summer of 1618.