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 VALENCIA VALENCIENNES 243 and esparto grass. About 4,000 acres are de- voted to orange culture, which has become very important. The mountainous districts are clothed with forests of fine timber, and there arw valuable marble quarries in the interior and fisheries on the coast. Large numbers of sheep and goats are raised, and the silk- worm is extensively cultivated. III. A city (anc. Valentia), capital of the province and of the ancient kingdom, on the river Guada- laviar, 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 sub- urbs 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 epis- copal palace, custom house, chamber of com- merce, court house, theatre, academy of the fine arts, school of commerce, medical insti- tute, several hospitals and asylums, and many churches and suppressed convents. The uni- versity, founded in 1410, has a library of about 45,000 volumes and a museum of natural his- tory, 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 Va- lencian 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, leads to the Grao or port of Valencia. The harbor is formed by a semicircular cunre in the beach, 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 saf- fron. Of these, oranges form the most im- portant 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,- 964. 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 Koman colony, in which D. Junius Brutus settled the soldiers of Viriathus about 138 B. 0. It was destroyed by Pompey, but was soon restored. The Moors took it from the Goths in 713, and it was cap- tured 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 op- posed 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 aban- doned by the generals and nobles, the people, under Eico, a monk, made a gallant defence, and compelled the enemy to retire with great loss. It was afterward (Jan. 9, 1812) surren- dered to Suchet by the Spanish general Blake. 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, 28,544. 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, except- ing the principal church, which stands in a large square. A brisk trade is carried on through Puerto Cabello, with which it is con- nected 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. VALENCIENNES (under the Merovingians Va- lentiance), a town of France, in the depart- ment of Le Nord, at the confluence of the Scheldt and Ronelle, 27 m. S. E. of Lille; pop. in 1872, 24,662. Its fortress, built by Vauban, is on an island in the Scheldt. It has a college, a school of chemistry, an acad- emy for painting and sculpture, and a public library. The chief manufactures are linen, muslins, beet sugar, gold and silver tissues, toys, earthenware, and leather. The produc- tion of Valenciennes lace has much declined. The mines in the vicinity yield one fourth of the total French product of coal. Valenciennes was a residence of the Merovingian kings, be- came one of the chief towns of Hainaut, and was unsuccessfully besieged by Louis XI. in 1477 and Turenne in 1656; but it was cap- tured by Louis XIV. in 1677, and its posses- sion was confirmed to France by the treaty of Nimeguen. It was taken by the allies in 1793 after a siege of six weeks, but recaptured in 1794. The Prussians occupied it from August, 1815, to November, 1818. VALENCIENNES, Adiille, a French naturalist, born in Paris, Aug. 9, 1794, died there, April 14, 1865. In 1830 he became professor of anatomy in the normal school. In 1844 he succeeded Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in the acad- emy of sciences. His works include Hutoire