(also bä-lĕn'thyä) A city of eastern Spain on the Gulf of Valencia, a wide inlet of the Mediterranean Sea. First mentioned as a Roman colony in 138 B.C., Valencia was taken by the Visigoths in A.D. 413, the Moors in 714, and James I of Aragon in 1238, after which it flowered commercially and culturally. The city was the seat (1936-1937) of the Loyalist government during the Spanish Civil War. Spain's third-largest city, it is a popular resort and a commercial and industrial center. Population: 798,000.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.