A kasbah (/ˈkæzbɑː/, also US: /ˈkɑːz-/; Arabic: قَـصَـبَـة, romanized: qaṣabah, Arabic pronunciation: , "central part of a town or citadel"), or variant spelling casbah or qasbah in English, also known as qasaba, gasaba and quasabeh, in India qassabah, in Portuguese alcáçova, and in Spain alcazaba, is a type of medina or fortress (citadel). The meaning of the word kasbah is varied, including "keep", "old city" and "watchtower" or "blockhouse".
In the Maghreb and in Iberia, the Arabic word form of kasbah frequently refers to multiple buildings in a keep, a citadel, or several structures behind a defensive wall. The Spanish word alcazaba is a cognate naming the equivalent building in Andalusia or Moorish Spain. In Portuguese, it evolved into the word alcáçova. In Catalan, the evolution resulted in alcassaba. A kasbah 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, like in Tangiers, 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. When colonization started in 1830, in northern Algeria, there were a number of kasbahs that lasted for more than 100 years.
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