La Docta — Argentina's second city and intellectual capital, where the National University of Córdoba (founded 1613, the oldest university in Argentina and one of the oldest in the Americas) still drives a student-population ratio that gives the city a vitality disproportionate to its size, the Jesuit Block of colonial churches and estancias is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 'Cuarteto' musical genre (a polka-derived accordion and percussion style unique to Córdoba) fills the nightclubs every weekend, and the Sierras de Córdoba rise in terraced granite curves from the city's western edge
Córdoba (1.5 million; metro 1.9 million) is Argentina's second-largest city and the capital of Córdoba Province — one of the most historically significant cities in South America, as the seat of the first viceroyalty government, the location of the first university in what is now Argentina, and the origin of the 1918 University Reform movement (the Reforma Universitaria) that spread student autonomy and free university governance across Latin America, influencing educational systems from Mexico to Chile. The city's nickname 'La Docta' (the Learned) reflects its identity as a university city —…
The Comechingones and Sanavirón peoples (Diaguita-Calchaquí linguistic family) inhabited the Córdoba region for thousands of years before Spanish colonisation. Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera founded the city of Córdoba on July 6, 1573, naming it for Córdoba in Andalusia, Spain. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) established the Colegio Máximo (the precursor to the National University of Córdoba) in 1613 — making it the oldest university in the Río de la Plata region and the third oldest in South America. The 1918 Córdoba University Reform (Reforma de Córdoba, June 15, 1918) began as a student strike ag…