Al-Andalus is the name given to the Muslim state extending over much of the Iberian peninsula, including parts of what is now Spain, Portugal, France, and Gibraltar, from the early 8th to the late 15th centuries. The boundaries of this state were constantly changing due to the wars with Christian kingdoms. The Moors arrived in Cordoba in 711 and Abd al-Rahman III made it the capital of Al-Andalus in 929. From the 9th to the 13th century over 500,000 people lived here making it Europe's largest city at that time.
The Torre de la Calahorra - originally a defensive gate for the city - houses an small museum which tells its story of the region. From the 9th to the 13th century, Cordoba is presented as the cultural center of that time, where the true Renaissance began and grew, where there was no separation between science, wisdom or faith.
Several influential philosophers lived in Cordoba in the 12th and 13th centuries, among them Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd ( known by his latin name - Averroes) and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides. Averroes seems to capture the time: "Our philosophy would serve for nothing if it were not able to link these three things... a science, founded on experience and logic, to discover reason; a wisdom, which reflects on the purpose of every scientific research so that it serves to make our life more beautiful; a revelation, that of our Koran, as it is only through revelation that we know the final purposes of our life and our history."
The scientific advancements of this time and place included medicine (an important encyclopedia of surgery written by Abulcassis in the 10th century); and agriculture and irrigation methods that improved upon the Roman system (we learned in Valencia that the system put in place by the Moors continues to serve as the basis for that region's current irrigation).
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