Córdoba

Córdoba was founded as a settlement on 6 July 1573 by Spanish conquistador Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, who named it after the Spanish city of Córdoba. It was one of the early Spanish colonial capitals of the region of present-day Argentina (the oldest Argentine city is Santiago del Estero, founded in 1553). The National University of Córdoba, the oldest university of the country, was founded in 1613 by the Jesuit Order, and Córdoba has earned the nickname La Docta ("the learned").

Córdoba has many historical monuments preserved from the period of Spanish colonial rule, especially buildings of the Catholic Church such as the Jesuit Block (Spanish: Manzana Jesuítica), declared in 2000 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which consists of a group of buildings dating from the 17th century, including the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat and the colonial university campus.