or Cordova, a city of Andalusia in Spain, situated on the river Guadalquivir, in a very extensive plain. The circumference is large; but it is not peopled in proportion to its extent, for there are a great many orchards and gardens within the walls. There are many superb structures, palaces, churches, and religious houses; particularly the cathedral, which is very magnificent: it was formerly a mosque when the Moors possessed the town; for which reason it still retains the name of Mezquita, which has the same meaning. This cathedral is very rich in plate; four of the silver candlesticks cost L.850 a-piece. The revenue of the see amounts to L.3500 per annum; but as the bishops cannot devise by will, all they die possessed of effects to the crown. The square called the Plaza Mayor is surrounded with very fine houses, under which are piazzas. The trade is flourishing on account of the river; and consorts of wine, silk, and Cordovan leather. In the neighbourhood of this place are a vast number of orange and lemon trees, which renders their fruits exceeding cheap. The best horses in Spain come from hence.

Cordova was the ancient Corduba mentioned in the preceding article. After the fall of the Roman empire, it was subjected to the dominion of the Goths; but in the eighth century it was raised by the Moorish princes to a state of splendor unequalled in any other part of the world. In the year 755, Abdourahman, only heir-male of the Omniad line, having passed over from Africa at the head of a few desperate followers, found means to raise a rebellion in Spain; when, after a battle fought on the banks of the Guadalquivir, in which he overthrew the lieutenant of the Abassid Caliph of Damascus, he became king of all the Moorish possessions in the south of Spain, and in 759 fixed his royal residence at Cordova. Then began those flourishing ages of Arabian gallantry and magnificence which rendered the Moors of Spain superior to all their contemporaries in arts and arms, and made Cordova one of the most splendid cities of the world. Agriculture and commerce prospered under the happy sway of this hero; and the face of the country was changed from a scene of desolation, which the long wars and harsh government of the viceroys had brought on, into a most populous flourishing state, exceeding in riches, number of inhabitants, activity, and industry, any prior or subsequent era of the Spanish history. He added new fortifications to the town, built himself a magnificent palace with delicious gardens, laid causeways through the marshes, made excellent roads to open ready communication between the great towns, and in 786 began the great mosque, which he did not live to finish.

During the course of two centuries, this court continued to be the resort of all professors of the polite arts, and of such as valued themselves upon their military and knightly accomplishments; while the rest of Europe was buried in ignorance, debased by brutality of manners, or distracted by superstitious disputes. England, weakened by its heptarchy, was too inconsiderable even to be mentioned in the political history of the times: France, though it had a gleam of reputation under Charlemagne, was still a barbarous unpolished nation; and Italy was in utter confusion; the frequent revolutions and change of masters rendering it impossible for learning, or anything good, to acquire a permanent footing in so unstable a soil: Greece, though still in possession of the arts and luxury of ancient Rome, had lost all vigour, and seemed absorbed in the most futile of all pursuits; viz., that of scholastic argument and religious subtleties.

The residence of the Omniad Caliphs was long conspicuous for its supreme magnificence, and the crowds of learned men who were allured to it by the protection offered by its sovereigns, the beauty of the country, the wholesome effects of the climate, and the variety of pleasures that returned incessantly in one enchanting round.

Cordova became the centre of politeness, industry, and genius. Tilts and tournaments, with other costly shows, were long the darling pastimes of a wealthy happy people; and this was the only kingdom in the west where geometry, astronomy, and physic, were regularly studied and practised. Music was no less honoured; for we find, that in 844 a famous musician called Ali Zeriah came to settle at Cordova, and formed several pupils, who were supposed to equal the most celebrated performers that were ever known even in the East. That architecture was greatly encouraged, we need no other proof than the great and expensive fabrics undertaken and completed by many of these Spanish monarchs. Whatever faults may be justly condemned in their manner by the connoisseur, accustomed to the chaste noble graces of the Grecian proportions, certainly nobody can behold what remains of these Moorish edifices, without being strongly impressed with a high idea of the genius of the artists, as well as the grandeur of the prince who carried their plans into execution.

These sultans not only gave the most distinguished protection to arts and sciences, and to the persons learned in any of them, but were themselves eminently versed in various branches of knowledge. Alkhem II. collected so immense a quantity of manuscripts, that before the end of his reign the royal library contained no less than 600,000 volumes, of which the very catalogue filled 40 huge folios. The university of Cordova was founded by him, and under such favourable auspices rose to the highest pitch of celebrity.

Abdourahman was succeeded by his son Hissam, whose passion for glory and architecture was not in the least inferior to that of his father. He put the finishing hand to the mosque, which the plunder of the southern Cordova southern provinces of France enabled him to complete in the course of a few years. The bridge over the Guadalquivir was a work of Hiflem's after his own plan.

Alkahem succeeded Hiflem.

Abdoulrahman II. was also passionately fond of building. He was the first that brought the supplies of water to Cordova by means of leaden pipes laid upon aqueducts of stone. The quantity was so considerable, that every part of the palace, the mosques, baths, squares, and public edifices, had all of them their fountains constantly playing. A great many of these works still subsist. He paved the whole city, and erected several mosques.

After him reigned Mahomet Almundar, Abdallah, and Abdoulrahman III., who surpassed all his predecessors in splendor, riches, and expense. His subjects vied with each other in profusion and magnificence. This monarch was succeeded by his son Alkahem II., who left a minor to succeed him, and the kingdom to be governed by the famous vizir Mahomet Abenamir, surnamed Almazar or "the defender," from his great victories and wise conduct. His descendants inherited from him the vizirship, and a power as absolute as if they had been caliphs, until the weakness of the sovereigns encouraged, and the influence of the ministers provoked, the grandees to disturb the state with their jealousies and dissensions. These broils occasioned such a series of civil wars and anarchy, as overthrew the throne of Cordova, and destroyed the whole race of Abdoulrahman. Thus the glorious edifice, founded by the valor and prudence of that conqueror, and cemented by similar virtues in many of his successors, sunk into nothing as soon as the sceptre devolved upon weak enervated princes, whose indolence and incapacity transferred the management of every thing to a vizir. Many petty kingdoms sprang up out of the ruins of this mighty empire; and the Christians soon found opportunities of destroying, by separate attacks, that tremendous power, which when united had proved an overmatch for their utmost force.

New Cordova, a considerable town of South America, in the province of Tucuman, with a bishop's see, 175 miles from St Jago. W. Long. 62° 5'. S. Lat. 32° 10'.