Walking the Kasbah (Kasaba or कसबा)
No, I am not in North Africa or Arabia, but in historic Pune, the seat of Maratha Power. The Kasaba in Pune predates its eminence maybe by a thousand years, perhaps less. The Arabic and Turkish meanings differ somewhat, but not by too much - A kasbah ( / ˈ k æ z b ɑː / , also US : / ˈ k ɑː z -/ ; Arabic : قَـصَـبَـة , romanized : qaṣaba , lit. 'fortress', Arabic pronunciation: [qasˤaba] , Maghrebi Arabic : [qasˤba] ), also spelled qasba , qasaba , or casbah , is a fortress , most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. [1] [2] [3] [4] It is also equivalent to the term alcazaba in Spanish ( Spanish: [alkaˈθaβa] ), which derives from the same Arabic word. [5] [6] By extension, the term can also refer to a medina quarter , particularly in Algeria . In various languages, the Arabic word, or local w...