CORDOBA, ANDALUSIA

SpainAndaluciaAndalusiaAndaluciaAlmeriaAndalusiaCadizAndalusiaCordobaAndalusiaGranadaAndalusia

HuelvaAndalusiaJaenAndalusiaMalagaAndalusiaSeville


Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. Located at 37.88° North, 4.77° West, on the Guadalquivir river, it was founded in ancient Roman times as Corduba by Claudius Marcellus. Its population in 2007 was 323,600.

Today a moderately-sized modern city, the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when Córdoba was the thriving capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba that governed almost all of the Iberian peninsula. It has been estimated that Córdoba, with up to 500,000 inhabitants in the tenth century, was the largest city in Western Europe and, perhaps, in the world.

Córdoba was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior Baetica. Great philosophers like Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, orators like Seneca the Elder and poets like Lucan expressed themselves in the palaces of Córdoba. Later, it occupied an important place in the Provincia Hispaniae of the Byzantine Empire (552-572) and during the Visigoth period.

It was captured in 716 by the Muslims, and Córdoba became capital during the Umayyad Caliphate, the period of its apogee, with a population ranging between 250,000 and 500,000 inhabitants. In the 10th century, Córdoba – called in Arabic – was one of the largest cities in the world, as well as a great cultural, political and economic centre. The Córdoba Mosque dates back to this time. In 1236 it was captured by the king of Castile.

With one of the most extensive historical heritages in the world (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO December 17 1984), the city also features a number of modern areas, including the districts of Zoco and the railway station district, Plan RENFE.

The regional government has for some time been studying the creation of a Córdoba Metropolitan Area that would comprise, in addition to the capital itself, the towns of Villafranca, Obejo, La Carlota, Villaharta, Villaviciosa, Almodóvar del Río. and Guadalcázar. The combined population of such an area would be around 351,000.








Map of Cordoba: