n.
City (pop., 2001: city, 738,441; metro. area, 1,397,809), capital of the autonomous community of Valencia , eastern Spain.
First mentioned as a Roman settlement in 138 BC, it was later taken by the Visigoths in AD 413 and the Moors in 714. It became the seat of the newly established independent Moorish kingdom of Valencia in 1021. After 1238 it was part of the dominions of Aragon . The first Spanish printing press was established in Valencia in 1474; during the next two centuries the city was the seat of the Valencian school of painting. It was severely damaged in the Peninsular War , during the Spanish Civil War , and by flood in 1957. Its port ships agricultural produce and manufactured items.