'Cordova', 1890. Cordoba on the Guadalquivir river was a Roman settlement, taken over by the Visigoths, then the Umayyad Caliphate in 8th century. By the 10th century it was the largest city in Europe, recaptured by Christian forces in 1236, during the Reconquista. From "Cassell's Illustrated Universal History, Vol. III - The Middle Ages", by Edmund Ollier. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris and Melbourne, 1890. ]