  a kasbah or in older english casbah; a qasbah or qassabah in india, is a type of medina, islamic city, or fortress (citadel).morocco baedeker guide -ingeborg lehmann, rita henss â 2012 page 214 "kasbah a mud-brick castle that serves as a residence for the local berber tribe is called a kasbah or Â»tighremtÂ« in morocco. some are private mansions, others are even whole fortified villages with many large and small buildings crowded on ..." marrakesh fez rabat barnaby rogerson â 2000â page 65 "as its purpose, for a kasbah should be the domain of a ruler, be he sultan, governor or just a tribal chieftain. most of the ancient cities of morocco retain a large portion of their outer walls, but the kasbah (the government citadel containing ... "morocco â a country study guide usa ibp, international business publications, usa. â 2006 page 229 "sultan abdelmoumen transformed what was not much more than a casbah and built a mosque and a palace here too." it was a place for the local leader to live and a defense when a city was under attack. a kasbah has high walls, usually without windows. sometimes, they were built on hilltops so that they could be more easily defended. some were placed near the entrance to harbors. having a kasbah built was a sign of wealth of some families in the city. almost all cities had their kasbah, this building being something necessary for the city to survive. when colonization started in 1830, in northern algeria, there were a great number of kasbahs that lasted for more than 100 years. the word kasbah may also be used to describe the old part of a city, in which case it has the same meaning as a medina quarter. the spanish word alcazaba is a cognate naming the equivalent building in andalusia or moorish spain. in portuguese, it evolved into the word alcÃ¡Ã§ova. in turkish and urdu the word kasaba refers to a settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city; in short, a town. in the al-baha and asir provinces of saudi arabia and in yemen, the word "qasaba" usually refers to a single stone or rock tower, either as part of a tower house or a tower isolated on a hilltop or commanding a field. in india, a qasbah is a small town distinguished by the presence of muslim families of rank.boundaries and identities: muslims, work and status in aligarh e. a. mann â 1992 p. 23 " "a qasbah is a small town distinguished by the presence of 'decent people or families of some rank' (platts, 1974). ." ==see also== *bab ksiba *kasbah of the udayas, in rabat, morocco *casbah of algiers, algeria *battle of port lyautey *alcazaba *[[rock the casb
Islamic_architecture Maghreb Medieval_defences