Canals, Valencia

Canals
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms
Canals Location in Spain
Coordinates: 38°57′40″N 0°35′6″W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Valencian Community
Province	Valencia
Comarca	Costera
Judicial district	Játiva
Government
• Alcalde	Ricardo Cardona (2007) (PP)
Area
• Total	21.90 km2 (8.46 sq mi)
Elevation	160 m (520 ft)
Population (2009)
• Total	13,941
• Density	640/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Demonym	Canalí(catalán) Canalense (castellano)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	46650
Official language(s)	Valenciano

Canals is a municipality (pop., INE 2007: 13,771) in the comarca of Costera in the Valencian Community, Spain.

Limits with l'Alcúdia de Crespins, Cerdà, la Granja de la Costera, Xàtiva, Llanera de Ranes, Montesa, Torrella and Vallés (in the same comarca) and with Aielo de Malferit and l'Olleria (comarca of Vall d'Albaida).

Geography

Situated in Montesa's valley, between Grossa mountains and la Costera. Highest points are in la Serra Grossa, where is l'Atalaia (556 m) and la Creu (520 m), in Olleria's border. River Cànyoles crosses town direction O-NE; river Sants, borns close to town, where is divided into two chanels (sèquies) that bring water to Xàtiva and Canals fields.

The village is in the left part of Cànyoles river. Canals and l'Alcúdia de Crespins towns form a connurbation.

From València you can access to Canals from A-7 highway

Towns of the municipality

• Canals
• Aiacor
• Torre d'En Cerdà, or Torre dels Frares.

History

There have been found some evidences of roman civilization. In Muslim years it was a very important "alqueria" owned by Xàtiva.

Then in Christian years, the 24th of 1244, king James I gave to Dionís of Hungary the tower and the small vilalge of Canals. Dionis of Hungary gave to the king Veo's Valley castle and also Aín's castle and other territories. The Christian repoblation was made by Catalans. On July 30, Peter IV "el Cerimoniós" gave the place to Raimon de Riusech taking it from Joan Eximenis d'Urrea, with the condition that if he has not male descendents it will be give back to the crown, but in the end it was sell to Xàtiva city, with king's aprovation on February 19 of 1353 as a barony. During Xàtiva's rulement of Canals there were continuous tributary conflicts. The year 1506 Xàtiva buys La Torreta.

In 1552 during the Germanies Revolts, Canals was used by the viceroy as his headquarters to attack Xàtiva, where the 'Encobert' was hidden. A lot of prisoners were taken from Xàtiva to Canals. In 1639 Phillip IV, paid Xàtiva 20.000 pounds, and gave independence to Canals as a village (vila). In XIXth century Canals developes some industry, with 24 glass factories, paper factory, metal workshops, flour productors, and cloth sellers. In XXth century this industrial activity grows up with oil, furniture, construction materials, leather and cloth production.

Demography

Canals demography evolution
1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1981	1991	1996	2002	2006	2007]
4.695	4.857	4.967	5.261	5821	6.176	7.350	9.080	11.151	12.185	12.886	13.040	13.150	13.771

Economy

The economy is divided in agriculture (oranges), industry famous because its clothes and leather production (Ferry's, Rodrigo Sancho S.A.), and marble. Today the industry is almost dead with the main companies closed down: Ferry's (2007), Argent (2008), Rodrigo Sancho S.A. (2010), and many others.

The pottery has been also very important, and gave the people from Canals the nickname of "perolers" (potters).

External links

• Canals Actualitat La web lider en noticies i opinions de Canals.
• Ajuntament de Canals
• Assemblea de Joves de Canals
• Enllaç a Canals en el google maps
• Conèixer Canals, Web per a conèixer la població de la Costera, Canals
• La Costera Digital, Periòdic independent de la Costera, Canals.
• Institut Valencià d'Estadística
• Portal de la Direcció General d'Administració Local de la Generalitat
• AI MARE!, Web de fotos i videos d'humor feta a Canals
• 4Q-QUARTET - Quartet de trombons
• Associació Musical Canalense