sentences:  Its population in 2009 was estimated to be 29,495.The name's origin is attributed to the Carthaginian general Mago Barca, brother to Hannibal, who is thought to have taken refuge there in 205 BC.After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it became part of the Eastern Empire; it suffered raids from Vikings and Arabs, until the Islamic Caliphate of Córdoba conquered it in 903.