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 348 CORDOVA Cordova was once celebrated for its man- ufactures of leather, but this industry was transferred by the Moors to Morocco. Its silversmiths and filigree workers are still cele- The Great Mosque (now Cathedral). brated. Corduba was the birthplace of the two Senecas and of Lucan the poet. It sided with the sons of Pompey, and after the battle of Munda it was taken by Caesar, when 23,000 of its inhabitants are said to have been put to death. Its foundation is attributed to Marcel- Ins, the commander in the Celtiberian war (152 B. C.), and being peopled by poor patri- cians of Rome, it was hence called Colonia Patricia. Under the Goths it was called the " holy and learned." Osius, the friend of St. Athanasius and the counsellor of Constantine, was its bishop from the end of the 3d to the middle of the 4th century. Under the Moors Cordova became a great centre of learning and power ; produced Averroes, Maimonides, and other famous scholars ; rose to be the capital of the Moorish empire of Spain, and the seat of the caliphate from 756 to 1031, eclipsing Bagdad by its splendor, and containing in the 10th century nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, 300 mosques, and 900 baths. After the over- throw of the caliphate, Cordova passed into the hands of various rulers. In 1236 it was conquered and almost wholly destroyed by Ferdinand III. of Castile, a blow from which it never recovered. In 1808 it was taken and pillaged by the French under Dupont. CORDOVA. I. A central province of the Ar- gentine Republic, lying between lat. 29 and 34 15' S., and Ion. 61 and 66 15' W., bound- ed S. by the Pampas ; area, 60,000 sq. m. ; pop. in 1869, 208,771. The E. and S. parts are barren and almost uninhabited, but the remain- der is generally fertile. Near the W. border is the mountain range called the Sierra de Cor- dova, running N. W. and S. E. It separates into two branches and ramifies through the central parts of the province, but has no very lofty peaks, the highest, La Cuesta, rising about 2,500 ft. above the plain. Numerous rivers, the principal of which are the Primero, Segun- do, Tercero, Cuarto, and Quinto, descend from this chain, but the most of them are lost in the sandy plains. Only one, the Tercero, finds its way into the Parana, under the name of Car- carafia. The sierras abound in copper ore, but little has been done to develop the mines. Near the mountains the country is covered with dense forests, mostly of trees of the mi- mosa variety. The valleys are fertile, but the people are engaged generally in cattle and sheep raising, and pay little attention to agri- culture. The plains, irrigated by the moun- tain streams, furnish abundant pasturage, and are frequented by vast herds of the guanaco. Wheat and the sugar cane grow to perfection, but scarcely enough is raised for home con- sumption. Hides and wool, the latter of very superior quality, are almost the only exports. Besides Cordova, the capital, there are no towns of any consequence. II. The capital of the province, situated on the right bank of the river Primero, in lat. 31 24' S., Ion. 64 9' W., 375 m. N. W. Qf Buenos Ayres, on a plain 1,240 ft. above the level of the Parana at Ro- sario; pop. in 1869, 28,523. It is laid out in straight, narrow streets, intersecting at right angles, forming squares of 150 yards each. The better houses are of stone, one story in height, and built around paved courts into which all the rooms open. The Alameda, a square of about 150 yards, has a miniature lake and fine trees. The principal public buildings are the cathedral, a handsome structure in the renaissance style, several other churches, three monasteries, and a nunnery; the university, occupying the buildings of the old Jesuit col- lege, which was for more than a century the principal seat of learning in La Plata; the Ar- gentine national observatory, not yet (1873) entirely completed, though in successful opera- tion, under the charge of Mr. B. A. Gould ; the caMldo or government house, an orphan asylum, and an infirmary. The city, once the ecclesiastical metropolis of South America, still retains much of its former character, and the clergy and their connections form the most influential part of society. Its trade is im- portant, as all the traffic of the W. and N. W. provinces passes through it to the east. The exports are chiefly hides and wool, and the im- ports manufactured goods. The city was found- ed in 1573 by Don Luis de Cabrera, with the design of opening a route from Peru to the Pa- rana. It is now connected with the latter at Rosario by a railway, about 215 m. long. CORDOVA, a city of Mexico, in the state and 57 m. W. S. W. of the city of Vera Cruz, at the foot of the volcano of Orizaba ; pop. about 6,500. It is regularly built, with broad well paved streets, and a fine square in the centre, having Gothic arcades on three sides, and a fountain in the middle. The cathedral, a very handsome edifice, with a richly decorated ir-