Córdoba

a province in Argentina. Córdoba is located mainly in the Dry Pampa, which is cut by several rivers, including the Dulce, Cuarto, and Quinto. To the west is the Sierra de Córdoba (elevations up to 2,884 m). Area, 168,900 sq km; population, 2,100,000 (1970, approximately 70 percent urban). The capital is the city of Córdoba. Beryllium and tungsten ores are mined. Córdoba is rich in hydroelectric resources and supplies a substantial amount of Argentina’s electric power. The main sectors of industry are machine-building (Córdoba), nonferrous metallurgy (Rio Tercero), food-processing, and the manufacture of leather footwear. Livestock raising is the predominant form of agriculture; cereal and oil crops (primarily peanuts) are grown. Flowers and vegetables are cultivated on irrigated lands.

a department in northwestern Colombia, mostly in the Caribbean lowlands. Area, 25,200 sq km; population, 792,000 (1971). The administrative, cultural, and economic center is Montería. Two-thirds of the population is primarily engaged in livestock raising; there are fertile natural pastures between the Sinú and San Jorge rivers. Córdoba has a plantation economy (coffee, sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, rice, and tropical fruits). The primary processing of agricultural products is conducted.

a city in central Argentina and capital of the province of Córdoba.Population, 799,000 (1970, including suburbs). Railroad junction. Córdoba, one of the country’s leading indus-trial centers, has machine-building (tractors, automobiles, air-craft), food, and leather industries. The city was founded in 1573. Its university was established in 1613.

Córdoba has many 18th- and 19th-century dwellings, mostly with one story and often with two patios. There also are modern buildings (including industrial structures). Córdoba is the site of a cathedral (foundation laid in 1574, built from 1680 to 1758, architects A. Blanqui and Friar Vicente Muñoz) with classicist facades and baroque dome and towers. The La Compañía Church (1646–90, architect Philippe Lemer), with wooden arches that resemble the hull of a ship, is also in Córdoba.

(also Cordova), a city in Andalusia, in southern Spain, on the Guadalquivir River; administrative center of Córdoba Province. Population, 235,600 (1971). Wine, olive oil, flour, and leather are produced in Córdoba. Branches of Spain’s copper-smelting (70 percent of Spain’s total production of electrolytic copper is concentrated in Córdoba), electrical-engineering (controlled by American capital), and agricultural machine-building industries are there.

Córdoba has been known since the time of Phoenician colonization. According to Strabo and Ptolemy, it was the center for the Turdetatian tribes. It was captured by the Romans in the Second Punic War (218–201 B.C.). Under Augustus it was the main city of the province of Baetica. Córdoba was subsequently seized by the Vandals, Byzantium, the Visigoths, and Arab forces (A.D. 711). It became the capital of the Córdoba emirate in 756 and of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 929. In the tenth century Córdoba became an educational and scientific center. With the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, the city retained its independence until 1070, when it was subordinated by the Emir of Sevilla. During the Reconquesta, Córdoba passed into the hands of the Castilian kings in 1236. Its fate became interwoven with those of Castile and, later, Spain.

The extremely irregular layout of Córdoba’s center has been preserved. Still standing from Moorish times are low stucco houses that have blind facades and patios with greenery. Architectural monuments include a Roman bridge; the Arab tower of La Calahorra (rebuilt in 1369); a cathedral (until 1236 a mosque; construction begun in 785); the Church of St. Nicholás de la Villa (13th-16th centuries); the church of Carmen Calzado Monastery (1580, in the Mujedar style); Roman, Gothic, baroque, and classicist churches; a synagogue (1315); the city hall (1594–1631, in the Herreresque style); Renaissance palaces; and 18th-century squares. Córdoba is the site of the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts and the Provincial Archaeological Museum.

a city in the state of Veracruz, in Eastern Mexico. Population, 68,000 (1969). Cordoba is linked by railroad and highway with Mexico City and the port of Veracruz. It is the center of a region with a plantation economy (coffee and fruit). It has cotton, food-processing, and chemical industries. Córdoba is a mountain resort.