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Valencians ( ; ) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Autonomy as a nationality "within the unity of the Spanish nation".Art. 1 of the Valencian Statute of Antonomy: " El poble valencià, històricament organitzat com a Regne de València, es constituïx en Comunitat Autònoma, dins de la unitat de la nació espanyola, com a expressió de la seua identitat diferenciada com a nacionalitat històrica i en l'exercici del dret d'autogovern que la Constitució Espanyola reconeix a tota nacionalitat, amb la denominació del País Valencià." Valencians' native languages are Valencian, a variety of Western Catalan, in about 2 thirds of the territory, and Spanish language in the rest; both languages are official.Art. 6.2 of the Valencian Statute of Autonomy
The Valencian Community is politically divided in three provinces, from south to north: Alicante, Valencia and Castellón. Its capital is the city of Valencia.
The Vega Baja del Segura and Vinalopó comarcas/ comarques were lands disputed between the crowns of Castile and Aragon since the Reconquista, this being because they were conquered by Aragon but reserved for Castile under a treaty, hence they were repopulated by people from both crowns at different times, and the Alt Vinalopó (Villena influence area) was actually part of Murcia (Albacete province) until the nineteenth century. Following the Black Death and later the Expulsion of the Moriscos, the then Valencian-speaking Bajo Segura (to which Orihuela and Torrevieja belong) is said to have been resettled mostly by people from Murcia, eventually defining the language border there (see Murcian Spanish). The Requena comarca was, like the Alto Vinalopó, part of Castile (Cuenca province) until the mid-nineteenth century (1851).
Muslim presence in the Kingdom of Valencia was very high, making one third of the entire population at the time of the expulsion (the highest proportion in all of Spain). The coexistence between the Christians and Muslim was mostly good, despite some chapters of religious intolerance like the massive Baptism of Muslims during the first Revolt of the Brotherhoods; however, Valencian Muslims never ceased to speak Andalusi Arabic. The Christian Valencian elites disapproved of King Philip's plans of Expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609, because the sudden lack of the traditional workforce would lead to the kingdom's ruin.
The Bourbon victory in the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century led to the abolishment of Valencian laws and government institutions, and Valencian language was banned from legal and institutional use. The Kingdom of Valencia thus ceased to exist as an institution and, in the early 19th century, it was divided into three different provinces, although its inhabitants continued to self-identify as Valencian and maintained their language. After several failed attempts to re-gain self-government, the transition to democracy led to the devolution of Valencian traditional self-governing institutions and laws, chiefly the Generalitat Valenciana and the Statute of Autonomy. The Statute made Valencian official again along with Spanish, and defined Valencians as Spaniards inhabitants of the community.Art. 3 of the Valencian Statute of Antonomy: " 1. A los efectos de este Estatuto, gozan de la condición política de valencianos todos los ciudadanos españoles que tengan o adquieran vecindad administrativa en cualquiera de los municipios de la Comunitat Valenciana.
2. Los ciudadanos españoles residentes en el extranjero que hayan tenido su última vecindad administrativa en la Comunitat Valenciana y acrediten esta condición en el correspondiente Consulado de España gozarán de los derechos políticos definidos en este Estatuto. Este mismo régimen se aplicará a sus descendientes, inscritos como españoles, si así lo solicitan en los términos en los que lo determine la Ley del Estado.
3. Las comunidades de valencianos asentadas fuera de la Comunitat Valenciana tendrán derecho a solicitar, como tales, el reconocimiento de su valencianidad (...)"
The most important population centres used to be, during the Roman times, Sagunto and Dénia; later on in history, Valencia ( València), Alicante ( Alacant), Xàtiva, Orihuela, Elche ( Elx), Gandia, Villarreal ( Vila-real) and, more recently, Alzira and Castellón de la Plana ( Castelló de la Plana).
The population density which is higher in the central and southern lands and minor in the northern and inner ones, is derived from the traditional distribution of people which originated in the orographic characteristics of the Valencian lands and the possibility to obtain irrigated land agriculture. Demographics were also affected by (being perhaps the exception to the mentioned distribution) the great industrial activity and the commerce of agriculturally derived products during the 20th century of noncoastal cities like Alcoy ( Alcoi), Elda, Ontinyent, Petrer, Villena, and La Vall d'Uixó.
In the last years, concentration in the great capitals and its metropolitan areas has augmented considerably (e.g. Torrent, Mislata, Paterna, Burjassot, Sant Vicent del Raspeig, etc.) especially in all the coastal cities and towns. Thus, traditionally small populations such as Benidorm or Torrevieja have undergone a considerable population increase (still more remarkable during summertime) due to the seasonal migration of tourists.
Other famous Valencian dishes are the orxata drink, and the bunyols: the sweet pastry eaten in falles.
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