Córdoba or
Cordova
[key], city, capital of Córdoba prov., S Spain, in Andalusia, on
the Guadalquivir River. Modern industries in the city include brewing,
distilling, textile manufacturing, metallurgy, and tourism. Córdoba
flourished under the Romans, then passed to the Visigoths (572) and the
Moors (711). Under the Umayyad dynasty it
became the seat (756–1031) of an independent emirate, later called
caliphate, which included most of Muslim Spain. The city was then one of the
greatest and wealthiest in Europe, renowned as a center of Muslim and Jewish
culture and admired for its architectural glories—notably, the great
mosque, begun in the 8th cent., which is one of the finest of all Muslim
monuments—and for its gold, silver, silk, and leather work. The city
reached its zenith under Abd ar-Rahman III, who also founded
the city of Medina Azahara, whose ruins E of Córdoba were discovered
in 1911. Córdoba declined after the fall of the Umayyads and became
subject to Seville in 1078. Ferdinand III of Castile conquered it in 1236;
in 1238 the great mosque became a cathedral. Córdoba never recovered
its former splendor, but remained famous for its work in gold, silver, and
leather. It was sacked by the French in 1808 and sided with Franco early
(1936) in the civil war. The Senecas, Lucan, Averroës, and Maimonides
were born in Córdoba. There is a university in the city.
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