Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about 700 km (435 mi) northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province.

Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with about 1.3 million inhabitants as per the 2001 census. The city was founded on July 6, 1573 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, who named it after Córdoba, Spain. It was one of the first Spanish colonial capitals of the region that is now Argentina (the older city was Santiago del Estero, founded in 1553). The Universidad Nacional de Córdoba is the oldest university in Argentina. It was founded in 1613 by the Jesuit Order.

Córdoba has many historical monuments preserved from the times of Spanish colonialism, especially buildings of the Roman Catholic Church. The most recognizable is perhaps 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 Montserrat School and the colonial university campus (today the historical museum of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, which since the early 20th century has been the second-largest in the country (after the University of Buenos Aires) in terms of the number of students, faculty, and academic programs.

As the location of the first university founded in the land that is now Córdoba, Argentina has earned the nickname La Docta (roughly translated, "The Learned Lady").