Kasbah
Kasbah ( Arabic قصبة, DMG qaṣba ) is the Arabic name for a fortress located inside or outside of cities . This term is particularly common in the Maghreb countries. The rural counterpart to the Kasbah is the Ksar , a fortified village (e.g. Aït Benhaddou or Tizourgane ).
Variations of terms
Maghreb
In Morocco , Algeria and Tunisia , a castle or fortress above or within the medina (old town) is called a kasbah, which is often demarcated by walls and formerly guarded by military units stationed here ; often this was also the whereabouts of the governor or the king during his stays in the city (e.g. in Algiers , Tunis , Sousse , Tangier , Tetouan , Chefchaouen , Fez , Rabat , Marrakech and others). In addition, the families of senior civil servants and the military often lived within the Kasbah area. The Jewish quarter, the Mellah , was usually located near the Kasbah , because the Jews were often under the special protection of the ruler because of their financial strength.
- Morocco
In Morocco, the term Kasbah is also used for fortifications outside of cities, especially in the Atlas Mountains (e.g. near Boulaouane or Beni Mellal ). These were built by the rulers (especially under Mulai Ismail ) to control the coasts and the hinterland with the always restless Berber tribes resident here .
Towards the end of the 19th century, the term kasbah was also transferred to the forts built from rammed earth by the Berber princes ( Thami El Glaoui and others) in southern Morocco (e.g. Telouet , Skoura , Taourirt ). The term kasbah is not infrequently also applied to the residential castles ( tighremts ) of the Berbers, but with these buildings the military aspect was far in the background.
Andalusia
In several cities of Andalusia there are Moorish fortresses that are called Alcazaba , for example those of Almería , Málaga and Antequera ; also Ronda had a Alcazaba . This goes back to the Arabic al-qasba . The Alhambra in Granada is also a kasbah. In many places the Arabic word hisn is used to denote a fortress .
photos
Kasbah of Algiers , Algeria
Kasbah Amerhidil near Skoura , Morocco
Kasbah Taourirt in Ouarzazate , Morocco, interior view
Kasbah of Telouet , Morocco, interior view
Gate to the Kasbah of Tangier , Morocco
literature
- Gaston Deverdun: Kaṣaba. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume 4. EJ Brill, Leiden 1997, pp. 684-686
- Wolfgang Neumann: The Berbers. Diversity and unity of a traditional North African culture (= DuMont documents. ). DuMont, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7701-1298-9 , pp. 87 f.
