Abd al-Rahman III and the Golden Age
912–961 CE · Al-Andalus — Islamic Spain
Abd al-Rahman III declares himself Caliph of Cordoba, creating the most powerful state in Europe. Cordoba becomes a city of 500,000 people — the largest city in Western Europe — with 700 mosques, 300 public baths, and a library of 400,000 books at a time when most European monasteries had fewer than a few hundred manuscripts.