Ksar or qsar (

Maghrebi Arabic Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...

: قصر ''qṣer'' or ڭصر ''gser'', plural ''qṣur'';

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

: ⵉⴴⵔⵎ ''aghrem'' or ''ighrem'', plural: ''igherman''), plural ksars, qsars, ksour or qsour, is the North African term for "fortified village," from

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

''qaṣar'' (), itself possibly loaned from Latin ''castrum''. The term generally refers to a Berber fortified village.

Related terms

The origin of the

term ''qsar'' is ''qaṣar'' () in

Standard Arabic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also refe ...

, which means "castle" or "palace"; this term is also found elsewhere in the

Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...

. See, for example, the Iberian ''

alcázar An alcázar, from Arabic ''al-Qasr'', is a type of Islamic castle or palace in the Iberian Peninsula (also known as al-Andalus) built during Muslim rule between the 8th and 15th centuries. They functioned as homes and regional capitals for gover ...

''. The

(Amazigh) original word for "ksar" used in North Africa by the Berber-speaking populations is ''aghrem'' (singular) or ''igherman'' (plural). In the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

, the term has a more general meaning of "fortified village," or "fort". The Berber word ''igherman'' might be a cognate word, with an identical meaning, with the word '' Garamantes'', which is the name of the ancient Berber city-states in modern-day Libya.

Architecture

Ksour in the Maghreb typically consist of attached houses, often having collective ghorfa ( granaries) and other structures like a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, bath, oven, and shops. Ksour / ''igherman'' are widespread among the

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

populations of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. Ksars are sometimes situated in mountain locations to make defense easier; they often are entirely within a single, continuous wall. The

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...

of the entire structure is normally

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

, or cut stone and adobe. The idea of the ksar as a granary is a confused notion of two things, the granary itself, found within a ksar, and the ksar, which is a village, normally with granaries within it. Ksars form one of the main manifestations of Berber architecture.

Places named Ksar

The word is part of place names across

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, — the region called the

; and is particularly prevalent on the Saharan side of the various ranges of the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range. It stretches around through Moroc ...

and the valley of the

Draa River :''Dra is also the abbreviation for the constellation Draco.'' The Draa ( ber, Asif en Dra, ⴰⵙⵉⴼ ⴻⵏ ⴷⵔⴰ, ary, واد درعة, wad dərʿa; also spelled Dra or Drâa, in older sources mostly Darha or Dara) is Morocco's longest ...

. * Ksar Hadada, Tunisia, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was filmed there. * Ksar Halloof, Tunisia. * Ksar Oulad Dabab, Tunisia. * Ksar es-Seghir, Moroccan stronghold in the Straits of Gibraltar, between Tangier and Ceuta * Ksar el-Kebir, location of the Battle of Alcácer Quibir, influenced Moroccan, Portuguese and Spanish history *

Ksar Nalut Ksar Nalut ( ar, قصر نالوت) or Ksar Lalot is a fortified granary, or ksar, located in Nalut, Nalut District in Western Libya. Like other ksars created by North African Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an eth ...

, Libya * Ksar Ouled Soltane, Tunisia

References

External links

www.ksour-tunisiens.com
– complete documentation of all ksour of southern Tunisia, Herbert Popp & Abdelfettah Kassah {{Islamic architecture Arabic words and phrases Arabic fortifications Berber architecture Fortifications by type Sahara Castles Ribats

Related terms

Architecture

Places named Ksar

See also

References

External links