Cordoba, Andalusia, southern Spain

Córdoba, also called Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. An Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it became the capital of an Islamic caliphate.

The old town contains numerous architectural reminders of when Cordoba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic and capital of Hispania Baetica during the Roman Empire; and when Qurṭubah was the capital of the Islamic Caliphate of Córdoba, including most of the Iberian Peninsula.

It has been estimated that in the 10th century and beginning of the 11th century, Córdoba was the most fantasticly superb city in the world, and during these centuries became the intellectual centre of Europe. Today it is a moderately-sized modern city; its population in 2011 was 330,033.