Cordoba

Capital of Abd al-Rahman I's Umayyad state in Muslim Spain from 756. Its great age of prosperity lasted until 1031, when the Umayyad line in Spain was extinguished, but during this period Córdoba rivalled Baghdad in size and splendor and far outshone any western city. It passed into Almoravid control in 1091 and to the Almohads in 1148, but in 1236 was captured by Ferdinand III of Castile. Among its great medieval scholars were Ibn Hazm, Averroes and Maimonides.