bazaar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Divan bazaar in Luxor, Egypt (1995)
Clothes bazaar in Herat, Afghanistan (2004)
Bazaar stall with fruits in the Moroccan Marrakech (2014)

Bazaar or Bazar ( Persian بازار, DMG Bāzār ) is the Persian word for market . Like the German loan word , Basar describes the combination of supply and demand for commercial objects as well as the trading center , which has specific characteristics in terms of its design, location and function.

General

The term bazaar is mainly used for markets in oriental-Islamic cities and is used as a loan word in many languages ​​from Asia to Europe.

A characteristic of oriental bazaars is the series of shops that sell goods of the same category (e.g. shoes, spices or fabrics). In contrast, Central European traders have been trying to protect their territory since industrialization , i.e. trying to distance themselves as clearly as possible from competing traders. Another characteristic of the bazaar is the functional integration of wholesalers and retailers. The bazaar is mostly located near the main mosque and, in contrast to European markets, is usually either in a building with vaults or as a covered shopping street.

In an oriental bazaar, the general rule is to negotiate ( haggle ) about prices . If there are price tags at all, then these are only used for orientation or as an introductory bid for the seller. Negotiating with plenty of words and gestures is not only allowed, but expressly encouraged. Western tourists who forego it out of fear, ignorance or generosity are seen as impolite or arrogant in many oriental countries. Elias Canetti described him as follows: “In addition to the shops that only sell, there are many in front of which you can watch the objects being produced. So you are there from the start, and that makes the viewer happy. Because part of the desolation of our modern life is that we get everything ready and ready into the house and ready for use, as if from ugly magic devices ”.

history

Bazaars probably emerged in their current form for the first time in the 16th century in Persian Tabriz , from where they spread over all of Arabia , where they are known as souq ( Arabic سوق, DMG Sūq  'Market'). The governor Yazid ibn Hatim al- Muhallabi had already set up similar marketplaces during his reign (771–787) in Tripoli . In Islam, the guardians of morals ( Arabic محتسب, DMG muḥtasib ). Adam Olearius reported for the first time in Europe about the Persian bazaars in his travelogues in 1656.

Web links

Wiktionary: Bazaar  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Bazaar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Mohamed Sharabi: The bazaar. The Middle East's traditional city center and its trading facilities. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1985, ISBN 3-8030-0140-4 .
  • Walter M. Weiss: The bazaar. Center of life in the Islamic world. History and present of a human-friendly city model. Edition Brandstätter, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-85447-508-X .
  • Eugen Wirth : The oriental city in the Islamic Middle East and North Africa. Urban fabric and spatial order, economic life and social organization. 2 volumes. von Zabern, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-8053-2709-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. Elias Canetti, The Voices of Marrakech , The Souks , 1980, p. 19
  2. Bita Schafi-Neya, Instructions for Use for Iran , 2018, o. P.
  3. Michael Gorges, Kleines Iran-Lexikon , 2019, p. 51 f.
  4. ^ Adam Olearius, Newe Description of the Muscowitischen and Persischen Reyse , 1656, S. 600 f.