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"Comunidad Valenciana" redirects here; for the cycling team, see Comunitat Valenciana (cycling team). 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.
History 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 abolished 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 bipartisan reform of the Valencian statute of autonomy. Valencia's Statute of Autonomy declares the official languages Castilian (name given to Spanish) and Valencian (the same as Catalan, by other name). Although the Spanish Constitution of 1978 obliges citizens to know Spanish throughout Spain, the statute grants Valencian special protected status referring to it as the language proper to the Land of Valencia (llengua pròpia). 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. Provinces 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. Major rivers: Other articles | ||||||||
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