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What was the Caliphate of Córdoba?

While most of Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages, Córdoba's libraries held 400,000 volumes — and its street lamps stayed lit.

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While Paris was a muddy village and London a provincial backwater, the streets of Córdoba were paved and lit by lamps, and its royal library held some 400,000 volumes — more books than every Christian library in Europe combined. For a century, the brightest city in Europe was Muslim, and it knew it.

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While most of Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages, Córdoba's libraries held 400,000 volumes — and its street lamps stayed lit.…

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