Bazaar

Uncommon card · No. 98175

A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in West Asia, North Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia, and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets that have doors on each end and served as a city's central marketplace. The term bazaar originates from Persian, where it referred to a town's public market district. Bazaari refers collectively to the merchants, bankers and craftsmen who work in a bazaar. The term souk comes from Arabic and refers to marketplaces in West Asia and North Africa. Although the lack of archaeological evidence has limited detailed studies of the evolution of bazaars, the earliest evidence for the existence of bazaars or souks dates to around 3000 BCE. Cities in the ancient West Asia appear to have contained commercial districts. Later, in the historic Islamic world, bazaars typically shared in common certain institutions, such as the position of the muḥtasib, and certain architectural forms...

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