At the beginning of the 8th century, after the Visigoth occupation which took place at the end of the Roman Empire, Valencia underwent several centuries of Muslim domination. During all this time, a gradual but thorough Islamization of the Valencian territory took place.

But this interval closed with the conquest of Valencia by the Christians from the north (mainly Aragonese and Catalonians). This city became the capital of the Kingdom of Valencia, a new Christian territory politically and dynastically bound to the Crown of Aragon. This metropolis achieves such a socioeconomic and cultural development that by the 15th century, it is undoubtedly the most important city on the peninsular Mediterranean coast.

After a severe crisis which lasted a couple of decades in the 17th century, it soon revived again thanks to its commercial activity and kept on growing during the 18th century. However, its industrialization is of late arrival, since it is not until the end of the 19th century that its bourgeoisie began investing their surpluses in this sector. Until then, they had invested their profits in traditional trade activities and in a very productive agriculture.

Besides the economic prosperity, these years also saw the rebirth of the creative arts that achieved much glory thanks to artists and writers like Sorolla, Pinazo, Benlliure and Blasco Ibáñez.

In October 1957, years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, in which Valencia played an important political part by housing the capital of the Republic because it was in the military rearguard, Valencia suffered one of its most terrible catastrophes when the Turia overflowed its banks and flooded the city.

Starting in the sixties, a spectacular urban and economic growth takes place, which has not ceased, but has furthermore, been reinforced by a new political era inaugurated with the arrival of democracy. And self-government has become possible thanks to the State decentralization through autonomies.