Córdoba or Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It is the largest city in the province, 3rd largest in Andalusia, after Sevilla and Málaga, and the 11th largest in Spain. It was a Roman settlement, taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Muslim conquests in the eighth century and later becoming the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba. The city served as the capital in exile of the Umayyad Caliphate and other emirates. 

History

Prehistory, antiquity and Roman foundation of the city

The first traces of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 42,000 to 35,000 BC. Pre-urban settlements around the mouth of the Guadalquivir river are known to have existed from the 8th century BC. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy. The first historical mention of a settlement dates to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir. Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 BC.

In 169 Roman consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, grandson of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had governed both Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior, respectively), founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. The date is contested; it could have been founded in 152. Between 143 and 141 BC the town was besieged by Viriatus. A Roman forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC. The famous Cordoba Treasure, with mixed local and Roman artistic traditions, was buried in the city at this time; it is now in the British Museum.

Corduba became a Roman colonia with the name Colonia Patricia, between 46 and 45 BC. It was sacked by Caesar in 45 because of its fealty to Pompey, and resettled with veteran soldiers by Augustus. It became the capital of Baetica, with a forum and numerous temples, and was the main center of Roman intellectual life in Hispania Ulterior. The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, his father, the orator Seneca the Elder, and his nephew, the poet Lucan came from Roman Cordoba.

In the late Roman period, Corduba's bishop Hosius (Ossius) was the dominant figure of the western Church throughout the earlier 4th cent. Later, Corduba occupied an important place in the Provincia Hispaniae of the Byzantine Empire (552–572) and under the Visigoths, who conquered it in the late 6th century.

Umayyad rule

Córdoba was captured and mostly destroyed by the Muslims in 711 or 712. Unlike other Iberian towns, no capitulation was signed and the position was taken by storm. Córdoba was in turn governed by direct Arab rule. The new Umayyad commanders established themselves within the city and in 716 it became a provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus; in Arabic it was known as قرطبة (Qurṭuba).

Different areas were allocated for services in the Saint Vincent Church shared by Christians and Muslims, until construction of the Córdoba Mosque started on the same spot under Abd-ar-Rahman I. Abd al-Rahman allowed the Christians to rebuild their ruined churches and purchased the Christian half of the church of St Vincent. In May 766 Córdoba was chosen as the capital of the independent Umayyad emirate, later caliphate, of al-Andalus. By 800 the megacity of Córdoba supported over 200,000 residents, 0.1 per cent of the global population. During the apogee of the caliphate (1000 AD), Córdoba had a population of about 400,000 inhabitants,. In the 10th and 11th centuries Córdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world, and a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. The Great Mosque of Córdoba dates back to this time. After a change of rulers the situation changed quickly. The vizier al-Mansur–the unofficial ruler of al-Andalus from 976 to 1002—burned most of the books on philosophy to please the Moorish clergy; most of the others were sold off or perished in the civil strife not long after.

Córdoba had a prosperous economy, with manufactured goods including leather, metal work, glazed tiles and textiles, and agricultural produce including a range of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, and materials such as cotton, flax and silk. It was also famous as a centre of learning, home to over 80 libraries and institutions of learning, with knowledge of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, botany far exceeding the rest of Europe at the time.

In 1002 Al-Mansur was returning to Córdoba from an expedition in the area of Rioja when he died. His death was the beginning of the end of Córdoba. Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar, al-Mansur's older son, succeeded to his father’s authority, but he died in 1008, possibly assassinated. Sanchuelo, Abd al-Malik’s younger brother succeeded him. While Sanchuelo was away fighting Alfonso V of Leon, a revolution made Mohammed II al-Mahdi the Caliph. Sanchuelo sued for pardon but he was killed when he returned to Cardova. The slaves revolted against Mahdi, killed him in 1009, and replaced him with Hisham II in 1010. Hisham II kept a male harem and was forced out of office. In 1012 the Berbers "sacked Cardova." In 1016 the slaves captured Cardova and searched for Hisham II, but he had escaped to Asia. This event was followed by a fight for power until Hisham III, the last of the Umayyads, was routed from Córdoba in 1031.

High Middle Ages

As the caliphate collapsed, so did Córdoba's economic and political hegemony, and it subsequently became part of the Taifa of Córdoba.

In 1070, forces from the Taifa of Seville (ruled by Al-Mu'tamid) entered Córdoba to help in the defence of the city, that had been besieged by Al-Mamun, ruler of Toledo, yet they took control and expelled the last ruler of the taifa of Córdoba, Abd-Al Malik, forcing him to exile. Al-Mamun did not cease in his efforts to take the city, and making use of a Sevillian renegade who murdered the Abbadid governor, he triumphantly entered the city on 15 February 1075, only to die there barely five months later, apparently poisoned. Córdoba was seized by force in March 1091 by the Almoravids.

Sworn enemies of the almohads, Ibn Mardanīš (the "Wolf King") and his stepfather Ibrahim Ibn Hamusk allied with Alfonso VIII of Castile and laid siege on Córdoba by 1158–1160, ravaging the surroundings but failing to take the place.

Almohad caliph Abdallah al-Adil reshuffled governor Al-Bayyasi (brother of Zayd Abu Zayd, governor of Valencia) from Seville to Córdoba in 1224, only to see the latter became independent from Caliphal rule. Al-Bayyasi asked Ferdinand III of Castile for help and Córdoba revolted against him. Years later, in 1229, the city submitted to the authority of Ibn Hud, disavowing him in 1233, joining instead the territories under Muhammad Ibn al-Aḥmar, ruler of Arjona and soon-to-be emir of Granada.

Late Middle Ages

Ferdinand III of Castile entered the city on 29 June 1236, following a siege of several months. According to Arab sources, Córdoba fell on 23 Shawwal 633 (that is, on 30 June 1236, a day later than Christian tradition). The conquest was followed by the return to Santiago de Compostela of the church bells that had been looted by Almanzor and moved to Córdoba by Christian war prisoners in the late 10th century. Ferdinand III granted the city a fuero in 1241; it was based on the Liber Iudiciorum and in the customs of Toledo, yet formulated in an original way. The city was divided into 14 colaciones, and numerous new church buildings were added. The centre of the mosque was converted into a large Catholic cathedral.

Modern history

In the context of the Early Modern Period, the city experienced a golden age between 1530 and 1580, profiting from an economic activity based on the trade of agricultural products and the preparation of clothes originally from Los Pedroches, peaking at a population of about 50,000 by 1571. A period of stagnation and ensuing decline followed.

It was reduced to 20,000 inhabitants in the 18th century. The population and economy started to increase again only in the early 20th century.

The second half of the 19th century saw the arrival of railway transport via the opening of the Seville–Córdoba line on 2 June 1859. Córdoba became connected by railway to Jerez and Cádiz in 1861 and, in 1866, following the link with Manzanares, with Madrid. The city was also eventually connected to Málaga and Belmez.

On 18 July 1936, the military governor of the province, Col.Ciriaco Cascajo [es], launched the Nationalist coup in the city, bombing the civil government and arresting the civil governor, Rodríguez de León; these actions ignited the Spanish Civil War. Following the orders of the putschist General Queipo de Llano, he declared a state of war. The putschists were met by the resistance of the political and social representatives who had gathered in the civil government headquarters, and remained there until the Nationalist rifle fire and the presence of artillery broke their morale. When its defenders began fleeing the building, Rodríguez de León finally decided to surrender and was arrested. In the following weeks, Queipo de Llano and Major Bruno Ibañez carried out a bloody repression in which 2,000 persons were executed. The ensuing Francoist repression in wartime and in the immediate post-war period (1936–1951) is estimated to have led to around 9,579 killings in the province.

Córdoba was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 17 December 1984, but the city has a number of modern areas, including the district of Zoco and the area surrounding the railway station.

The regional government (the Junta de Andalucía) 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 de Córdoba, Obejo, La Carlota, Villaharta, Villaviciosa, Almodóvar del Río and Guadalcázar. The combined population of such an area would be around 351,000. The Plano de Córdoba was also known for its books and how they created it.