It lies on the Scheldt (French: Escaut) river. Although the city and region experienced a steady population decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded.

Valenciennes is first mentioned in 693 in a legal document written by Clovis II (Valentiana). In the 843 Treaty of Verdun, it was made a neutral city between Neustria and the Austrasia. Later in the 9th century the region was overrun by the Normans, and in 881 the town passed to them. In 923, it passed to the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia dependent on the Holy Roman Empire. Once the Empire of the Franks was established, the city began to develop, though the archaeological record has still not revealed all it has to reveal about this period.

In 1008, a terrible famine brought the Plague. According to the local tradition, the Virgin Mary held a cordon around the city which, miraculously, has since protected its people from the disease. Since then, every year at that time, the Valenciennois used to walk around the 14 km (9 mi) road round the town, in what is called the tour of the Holy Cordon.

In 1259, Valenciennes was the site of a General Chapter of the Dominican Order at which Thomas Aquinas together with masters Bonushomo Britto, Florentius, Albert, and Peter took part in establishing a ratio studiorum or program of studies for the Dominican Order that featured the study of philosophy as an innovation for those not sufficiently trained to study theology. This innovation initiated the tradition of Dominican scholastic philosophy put into practice, for example, in 1265 at the Order's studium provinciale at the convent of Santa Sabina in Rome, out of which would develop the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum.

In 1524, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, arrived at Valenciennes, and – even when Henry II of France allied with him against the Protestants in 1552 – Valenciennes became (c. 1560) an early center of Calvinism and in 1562 was location of the first act of resistance against persecution of Protestants in the Spanish Netherlands. On the "Journée des Mals Brûlés" (Bad Burnings Day) in 1562, a mob freed some Protestants condemned to die at the stake. In the wave of iconoclastic attacks called the Beeldenstorm that swept the Habsburg Netherlands in the summer of 1566, the city was the furthest south to see such an attack on August 24, 1566. It was also one of the first to feel the hand of repression after the siege and fall of the city on March 23, 1567. One of the victims of that repression was Guido de Bres, the author of the Belgic Confession. Following the "révolte des gueux's victory at Brielle, the army of Louis of Nassau, one of the major commanders of the Dutch rebel forces and supported by the Huguenot leader Gaspard de Coligny, invaded the Spanish Netherlands with an army composed of German, English, Scottish and French soldiers, and took Valenciennes on 21 May 1572. However, Louis went on to Mons, and the Protestant garrison left behind offered only a feeble defence to the Duke of Alba, at the head of the bulk of the Spanish army, who recaptured Valenciennes in early June 1572, depriving Louis' French allies, of one of their main bases.

The French army laid siege to the city in 1656 (Vauban participated in this siege without a command). Defending the city, Albert de Merode, marquis de Trélon was injured during a sortie on horseback, died as a result of his injuries and was buried in the Church of St. Paul (his tomb was found during the archaeological campaign in 1990).

In 1677, the armies of Louis XIV of France (this time led by Vauban) captured the city and in 1678 the Treaty of Nijmegen gave the French control of Valenciennes (1678) and the surrounding southern part of Hainault, roughly cutting the former county in half.

The city was besieged by the First Coalition against Revolutionary France in 1793. Following a protracted Siege of Valenciennes the city was captured and occupied in July by Anglo-Austrian forces under the Duke of York and the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, and only retaken by the French Revolutionary armies in August 1794. In July 1795, one year after the execution of Robespierre put an end to the Reign of Terror, the Republicans of Valenciennes tortured, and guillotined five Ursuline nuns; by some accounts, the nuns were raped before being executed. After the Napoleonic era, Valenciennes gave itself up to the Bourbons in 1815 for 5 years.

During World War I the German army occupied the town in 1914. They were finally driven out by British forces at the Battle of Valenciennes in 1918, 'in which seven British divisions attacked eleven German divisions'. One dramatic first-hand experience of this battle is provided by A. S. Bullock who fought at a section of the front near Maresches.

The town's first antenna was set up in Lille in 1964, then the Centre universitaire was set up in 1970, becoming independent in 1979 as the University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambrésis.

In 2005, a local resident, Isabelle Dinoire, became the first person to have a partial face transplant.

Valenciennes has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb). The average annual temperature in Valenciennes is 11.0 °C (51.8 °F). The average annual rainfall is 694.1 mm (27.33 in) with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 18.7 °C (65.7 °F), and lowest in January, at around 3.9 °C (39.0 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Valenciennes was 40.9 °C (105.6 °F) on 25 July 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −14.9 °C (5.2 °F) on 7 January 2009.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1800 16,918 —     1806 19,016 +1.97% 1821 19,906 +0.31% 1831 18,953 −0.49% 1836 19,499 +0.57% 1841 21,343 +1.82% 1846 22,040 +0.64% 1851 23,263 +1.09% 1856 24,229 +0.82% 1861 24,966 +0.60% 1866 24,344 −0.50% 1872 24,662 +0.22% 1876 26,083 +1.41% 1881 27,607 +1.14% 1886 27,575 −0.02% 1891 28,700 +0.80% 1896 29,912 +0.83% 1901 30,946 +0.68%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 31,759 +0.52% 1911 34,766 +1.83% 1921 34,425 −0.10% 1926 40,023 +3.06% 1931 42,359 +1.14% 1936 42,564 +0.10% 1946 38,684 −0.95% 1954 43,434 +1.46% 1962 45,379 +0.55% 1968 46,626 +0.45% 1975 42,473 −1.32% 1982 40,275 −0.76% 1990 38,441 −0.58% 1999 41,278 +0.79% 2007 42,670 +0.42% 2012 42,989 +0.15% 2017 43,336 +0.16%
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Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017)

The Hindenburg Line ran through Valenciennes during World War I, leading to extensive destruction. Valenciennes was again almost completely destroyed during World War II, and has since been rebuilt in concrete.

A few surviving monuments are: 1) The façade of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), which managed to survive the bombardments of the war; 2) the Basilica of Notre-Dame du Saint-Cordon, to which there is an annual pilgrimage; 3) La Maison Espagnole, the remains of the Spanish occupation, which ended in 1678. The building is now used as the town's tourist information office; 4) The Dodenne Tower, the remaining part of the medieval fortifications after Charles V ordered them reduced; 5) Théâtre le Phenix, a theatre and performing arts venue constructed in 1998; 6) The "Beffroi", a large, pin-like monument 45 m (148 ft) in height, built in 2007 on the site of the former belfry.

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Valenciennes is historically renowned for its lace. Until the 1970s, the main industries were steel and textiles. Since their decline, reconversion attempts focus mainly on automobile production. In 2001, Toyota built its Western European assembly line for the Toyota Yaris in Onnaing near Valenciennes. Because of this and other changes, the average unemployment in the region is now below the national average.

On 15 July 2004, the Administrative Board of the European Union's Railway Agency held its first meeting in Phénix, with representatives of the 25 Member States and François Lamoureux, those days Director General for Energy and Transportation at the European Commission. Valenciennes was picked as the European Railway Agency headquarters in December 2003. International conferences are held in Lille.

Line No. 1 of the Tramway de Valenciennes was put into service on 3 July 2006. 9.5 km (5.9 mi) long, this tramway crosses the five communes in the Valenciennois Metropolitan area, at a cost of 242.75 million Euros.

Valenciennes railway station offers connections with Lille, Paris and several regional destinations.

Valenciennes is a subprefecture of the Nord département.

• 1947–1988: Pierre Carous, resigned (died in 1990)
• 1988–1989: Olivier Marlière
• 1989–2002: Jean-Louis Borloo, resigned when he entered the national government
• 2002–2012: Dominique Riquet
• 2012–present: Laurent Degallaix

Valenciennes FC is based in the city.

Valenciennes is twinned with:

• Agrigento, Italy
• Central AO (Moscow), Russia
• Düren, Germany
• Gliwice, Poland
• Medway, England, United Kingdom
• Yichang, China

• Vendémiaire Pavot Sculptor of La Faunesse in Valenciennes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Valenciennes.

• Official website (in French)