CORDOBA

provincia, in the comunidad autnoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, south-central Spain. It has an area of 5,297 square miles (13,718 square km) that is divided by the Guadalquivir River into a mountainous north, crossed by the Sierra Morena, and a fertile, undulating southern plain, known as La Campia. Mining (in the north) of lead, zinc, and coal is the province's chief industry. Agriculture (cereals, olives, grapes) and horse and bull breeding predominate in the south. The historic provincial capital, Crdoba, is a popular tourist centre. Other important towns are Lucena, Puente-Genil, Montilla, Priego de Crdoba, Cabra, and Baena. Pop. (1988 est.) 760,922. English Cordova city and capital of Crdoba provincia in the comunidad autnoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia in southern Spain. It lies at the southern foot of the Sierra Morena and on the right (north) bank of the Guadalquivir River, about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Seville. Crdoba was probably Carthaginian in origin and was occupied by the Romans in 152 BC. The city flourished under their rule, though 20,000 of its inhabitants were massacred in 45 BC by Julius Caesar for having supported the sons of Pompey. Under Augustus, the city became the capital of the prosperous Roman province of Baetica. It declined under the rule of the Visigoths from the 6th to the early 8th century AD. In 711 Crdoba was captured and largely destroyed by the Muslims. Its recovery was impeded by tribal rivalries until 'Abd ar-Rahman I, a member of the Umayyad family, accepted the leadership of the Spanish Muslims and made Crdoba his capital in 756. 'Abd ar-Rahman I founded the Great Mosque of Crdoba, which was enlarged by his successors and completed about 976 by Abu 'Amir al-Mansur. Though troubled by occasional revolt, Crdoba grew rapidly under Umayyad rule; and after 'Abd ar-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph of the West in 929, it became the largest and probably the most cultured city in Europe. Under Umayyad rule, Crdoba was enlarged and filled with palaces and mosques. The city's woven silks and elaborate brocades, leather work, and jewelry were prized throughout Europe and the East, and its copyists rivaled Christian monks in the production of religious works. When the caliphate was dismembered by civil war early in the 11th century, Crdoba became the centre of a contest for power among the petty Muslim kingdoms of Spain. It fell to the Castilian king Ferdinand III in 1236 and became part of Christian Spain. Crdoba remained a Christian military base in the frontier warfare against the Muslim kingdom of Granada. But the substitution of Spanish for Muslim rule hastened the city's economic and cultural decline, and the fall of Granada in 1492 left Crdoba a quiet city of churches, monasteries, and aristocratic houses. The exotic poetry of Luis de Gngora y Argote briefly revived Crdoba's cultural prestige in the 17th century. Besides Gngora, the city is noted as the birthplace of the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the poet Lucan, and the medieval philosophers Averros and Maimonides. The city was stormed and sacked by the French in 1808 for its part in fomenting the rebellion against Napoleonic French rule. It was one of the first cities occupied by Francoist forces in the Spanish Civil War (193639). Crdoba remains a typically Moorish city with narrow, winding streets, especially in the older quarter of the centre and west. A Moorish bridge with 16 arches on Roman bases connects Crdoba with its suburbs across the river. The bridge is guarded at its southern end by the Calahorra fortress. West of the bridge, near the river, lies the Alczar, or palace, which was the residence of the caliphs and is now in ruins. Other important buildings include several old monasteries and churches, the city hall, various schools and colleges, and museums of fine arts and archaeology. Crdoba's Moorish character, its fine buildings and churchesespecially the Great Mosquehave made it a popular tourist attraction. (See Crdoba, Mosque-Cathedral of.) The city is also noted for its textile manufactures, its brewing and distilling industries, and its manufacture of gold and silver ornaments and products in copper, bronze, and aluminum. Pop. (1982 est.) 272,309. city, west-central Veracruz estado (state), east-central Mexico. It lies at 3,031 feet (924 m) above sea level along the San Antonio River, within sight of the dormant volcano Citlaltpetl. The settlement was founded in 1618 as Villa de Crdoba and was host to the signing of the Treaty of Crdoba on Aug. 24, 1821, giving Mexico its independence from Spain. The city is set in a tropical landscape and retains a colonial atmosphere. It is a processing centre for coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, and bananas and other fruits raised in the area. It is also a highway and railroad junction. In August 1973 a massive earthquake, centred near Crdoba, caused widespread destruction in the city and throughout central Mexico. Pop. (1980) 99,972. provincia, central Argentina, with an area of 65,161 square miles (168,766 square km). From the Sierra Grande in the west, which rises to 9,462 feet (2,884 m), the land slopes eastward to the great Pampa grasslands, being drained by the Primero, Segundo, Tercero, Cuarto, and Quinto rivers. Only the Tercero reaches the Paran River; the others terminate in swamps or in the saline Laguna Mar Chiquita in the northeast. Spanish settlements were first established in the area in the 16th century, when trade was carried on with Bolivia and Chile. Although Crdoba was a stubborn region of Spanish resistance to the Latin American war of independence, it joined (1816) the Argentine Confederation, which it later (185262) strongly supported against the political dominance of Buenos Aires. Completion of the railway from Rosario in 1869 was the first important transportation link with the east, but Crdoba has retained its provincial loyalties. Cattle raising, carried over from colonial times, is of great economic importance, as are the cultivation of wheat, corn (maize), and soybeans. Granite and limestone are quarried, and there is mining (tungsten, mica, and beryllium) in the sierras. The province's chief industrial centres, which process foods and manufacture textiles, are Crdoba (q.v.), the provincial capital, Ro Cuarto, and Villa Mara. Important tourist resorts in the sierras include Cosqun (site of an annual folklore festival), Villa Carlos Paz, and La Falda. The province has an excellent communications network of roads, railways, and airlines. Pop. (1989 est.) 2,748,000. city, the second largest in Argentina, and capital of Crdoba provincia. It lies on the Primero River along the northwest perimeter of the Pampas, where the foothills of the Sierra de Crdoba meet the plains, 1,440 feet (472 m) above sea level. The city was founded in June 1573 by Jernimo Luis de Cabrera, then governor of Tucumn, who named it Crdoba de la Nueva Andaluca (Crdoba of the New Andalusia), for the city and region of that name in Spain. The location of Crdoba, between the coast and the interior settlements, played an important role in its early development. The city, as part of the viceroyalty of Peru, began to prosper and by the end of the 17th century had become the wealthiest city in Tucumn. In 1599 Jesuits settled in the city to teach and work with Indians, and in 1613 they founded the first university in the country. Crdoba's economy began to suffer with the creation in 1776 of the viceroyalty of Ro de la Plata (embracing the area of modern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Bolivia), with its capital at Buenos Aires, and Crdoba subsequently opposed the imposition of a strong central government based in Buenos Aires. This opposition persisted until the 1860s, causing numerous incidents of violence. Crdoba's commercial growth and industry were stimulated by the completion of rail connections with the east (1869) and the building on the Primero River in 1866 of San Roque Dam, one of South America's earliest large dams. The lake impounded by the dam, which has since been improved, supplies Crdoba with water, irrigates orchards and grain fields, and is the source of hydroelectric power for the city's leather, textile, automotive, glass, and food-processing factories. The city's religious conservatism and loyalty to the Roman Catholic church caused Crdoba to remain a centre of conservative ideas during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1880s the city strongly opposed the institution of laws that would secularize education. During the 20th century the city was also a centre of labour activism; after 1912 Crdoba came under the influence of the Radicals, reflecting the size of Argentina's growing industrial work force. In 1955 General Eduardo Lonardi's capture of Crdoba initiated the downfall of President Juan Pern. Crdoba's rich colonial inheritance is displayed by the old cabildo (town council chamber), the viceroy's palace (18th century), the cathedral (1758), and the church and convent of Santa Teresa (begun 1714). The Plaza San Martn commemorates the liberator of Argentina. Owing to its history and to summer resorts in the nearby sierras, Crdoba has developed a thriving tourist trade. It is the railway and highway hub of central Argentina, linking the Pampas with important centres of the northwest. Pajas Blancas is a modern airport close to the city. Pop. (1980) 968,829. departamento, northwestern Colombia. It occupies the Caribbean lowlands north of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Occidental. During most of the colonial period the area was sparsely settled, the original densely settled Indian population having disappeared by the time of the first major Spanish penetration in 1534. Created in 1951, the territory, 9,660 square miles (25,020 square km) in area, is one of the country's most important cattle-raising regions. Cotton, rice, and corn (maize) are cultivated on extensive holdings along the Bocas (distributary) del Sin. Nickel deposits are located near Montelbano. The departmental capital of Montera (q.v.) is connected by daily air service to Medelln and Cartagena and by riverboat to Cartagena and the lower Sin ports of Ceret and Lorica. Pop. (1985) 1,013,247.