Record Atlas
8 eras · 1563–2026 · 226 places

The Valencian country

Valencia, Alzira, Dénia, Castelló, Alicante. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1563–1707 Crown of Aragon — Kingdom of Valencia (own Furs) FamilySearch

James I took the city of Valencia on 9 October 1238. Parish registers follow the Council of Trent (1545 and 1563). The Moriscos were expelled in 1609, roughly 125,000 people. The Furs ended in 1707.
1707–1812 Kingdom of Spain — Nueva Planta (Castilian law) FamilySearch

After the Battle of Almansa (25 April 1707) the Furs of Valencia were repealed by the decree of 29 June 1707, and Valencia was governed by Castilian law. Castilian became the language of government and the courts.
1812–1813 French occupation — Valencia under Marshal Suchet no registers survive

Marshal Suchet forced the city to surrender on 8 January 1812; in mid-1812 Joseph Bonaparte moved his court to Valencia; the French left in July 1813.
1813–1871 Kingdom of Spain FamilySearch

Before 1833 the area was divided into four provinces (Alicante, Castellón, Valencia and Xàtiva); from 1833 the current three-province system was consolidated, so older papers may sit under a province that no longer exists. Parish registers are the record until civil registration in 1871.
1871–1931 Kingdom of Spain PARES · FamilySearch

Civil registration begins in 1871 under the law of 17 June 1870, though some municipalities have records from as early as 1837. The registers stay in each municipality's local archive; certified copies come from the Ministerio de Justicia or the local Juzgado de Paz / Oficina del Registro Civil.
1931–1939 Second Spanish Republic — Valencia the Republican capital 1936-37 PARES · FamilySearch

Valencia became the capital of Republican Spain on 6 November 1936 and the government moved to Barcelona on 31 October 1937. The city surrendered on 30 March 1939. The first attempt at Valencian self-government was suspended by the war.
1939–1975 Francoist Spain PARES · FamilySearch

Under Franco's State.
1975–2026 Kingdom of Spain — Valencian Community PARES · FamilySearch

The Statute of Autonomy dates from 1982 (a second in 2006). Valencian and Spanish are both official languages; Valencian is the local name for the language also known as Catalan.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1563–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

226 places on this ground

The 200 carrying the most collections are listed; 26 more stand on this ground. Every place has them all.

47 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

All record regions · The map