Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, by Amadeo Preziosi, late 19th century

The origin of the word bazaar comes from Persian bāzār.[1][2] from Middle Persian wāzār,[3] from Old Persian vāčar,[4] from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wahā-čarana.[5] The term, bazaar, spread from Persia into Arabia and ultimately throughout the Middle East.[6]

In North America, the United Kingdom and some other European countries, the term charity bazaar can be used as a synonym for a "rummage sale", to describe charity fundraising events held by churches or other community organisations in which either donated used goods (such as books, clothes and household items) or new and handcrafted (or home-baked) goods are sold for low prices, as at a church or other organisation's Christmas bazaar, for example.

Although Turkey offers many famous markets known as "bazaars" in English, the Turkish word "pazar" refers to an outdoor market held at regular intervals, not a permanent structure containing shops. English place names usually translate "çarşı" (shopping district) as "bazaar" when they refer to an area with covered streets or passages. For example, the Turkish name for the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is "Kapalıçarşı" (gated shopping area), while the Spice Bazaar is the "Mısır Çarşısı" (Egyptian shopping area). The Arabic term, souk (souq or suk) is a synonym for bazaar in Arab-speaking countries.

Troopers in the Bazaar, India, by Edwin Lord Weeks, 19th century

Bazaars originated in the Middle East, probably in Persia. Pourjafara et al., point to historical records documenting the concept of a bazaar as early as 3000 BC.[7] By the 4th century (CE), a network of bazaars had sprung up alongside ancient caravan trade routes. Bazaars were typically situated in close proximity to ruling palaces, citadels or mosques, not only because the city afforded traders some protection, but also because palaces and cities generated substantial demand for goods and services.[8] Bazaars located along these trade routes, formed networks, linking major cities with each other and in which goods, culture, people and information could be exchanged.[9]

The Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that in Egypt, roles were reversed compared with other cultures and Egyptian women frequented the market and carried on trade, while the men remain at home weaving cloth.[10] He also described The Babylonian Marriage Market.[11]

Prior to the 10th century, bazaars were situated on the perimeter of the city or just outside the city walls. Along the major trade routes, bazaars were associated with the caravanserai. From around the 10th century, bazaars and market places were gradually integrated within the city limits. The typical bazaar was a covered area where traders could buy and sell with some protection from the elements.[12] Over the centuries, the buildings that housed bazaars became larger and more elaborate. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often cited as the world's oldest continuously-operating, purpose-built market; its construction began in 1455.

Timcheh Amin-o-Dowleh, Kashan Bazaar, Iran, c. 1800

City bazaars occupied a series of alleys along the length of the city, typically stretching from one city gate to a different gate on the other side of the city. The Bazaar of Tabriz, for example, stretches along 1.5 kilometres of street and is the longest vaulted bazaar in the world.[13] Moosavi argues that the Middle-Eastern bazaar evolved in a linear pattern, whereas the market places of the West were more centralised.[14]

In pre-Islamic Arabia, two types of bazaar existed: permanent urban markets and temporary seasonal markets. The temporary seasonal markets were held at specific times of the year and became associated with particular types of produce. Suq Hijr in Bahrain was noted for its dates while Suq 'Adan was known for its spices and perfumes. In spite of the centrality of the Middle East in the history of bazaars, relatively little is known due to the lack of archaeological evidence. However, documentary sources point to permanent marketplaces in cities from as early as 550 BCE.[15]

Nejad has made a detailed study of early bazaars in Iran and identifies two distinct types, based on their place within the economy, namely:[16]

* Commercial bazaars (or retail bazaars): emerged as part of an urban economy not based on a merchant system

* Socio-commercial bazaars: formed in economies based on a merchant system, socio-economic bazaars are situated on major trade routes and are well integrated into the city's structural and spatial systems

In the 1840s, Charles White described the Yessir Bazary of Constantinople in the following terms:[17]

"The interior consists of an irregular quadrangle. In the center is a detached building, the upper portion serving as a lodging for slavedealers, and underneath are cells for newly imported slaves. To this is attached a coffee-house, and near to it a half-ruined mosque. Around the three habitable sides of the court runs an open colonnade, supported by wooden columns, and approached by steps at an angle. Under the colonnade are platforms, separated from each other by low railings and benches. Upon these, dealers and customers may be seen during business hours smoking and discussing prices.

Behind these platforms are ranges of small chambers, divided into two compartments by a trellice-work. The habitable part is raised about three feet from the ground; the remainder serves as passage and cooking place. The front portion is generally tenanted by black, and the rear by white slaves. These chambers are exclusively devoted to females. Those to the north and west are destined for second hand negresses or white women – that is, for slaves who have been previously purchased and instructed, and are sent to be resold. The hovels to the east are reserved for newly imported negresses, or black and white women of low price.

The platforms are divided from the chambers by a narrow alley, on the wall side of which are benches, where women are exposed for sale. This alley serves as a passage of communication and walk for the brokers, who sell slaves by auction and on commission. In this case, the brokers walk around, followed by the slaves, and announce the price offered. Purchasers, seated on the platforms, then examine, question and bid, as suits their fancy, until at length the woman is sold or withdrawn."

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans conquered and excavated parts of North Africa and the Levant. These regions now make up what is called the Middle East, but in the past were known as the Orient. Europeans sharply divided peoples into two broad groups – the European West and the East or Orient; us and the other. Europeans often saw Orientals as the opposite of Western civilisation; the peoples could be threatening- they were "despotic, static and irrational whereas Europe was viewed as democratic, dynamic and rational."[23] At the same time, the Orient was seen as exotic, mysterious, a place of fables and beauty. This fascination with the other gave rise to a genre of painting known as Orientalism. Artists focused on the exotic beauty of the land – the markets, caravans and snake charmers. Islamic architecture also became favorite subject matter. European society generally frowned on nude painting – but harems, concubines and slave markets, presented as quasi-documentary works, satisfied European desires for pornographic art. The Oriental female wearing a veil was a particularly tempting subject because she was hidden from view, adding to her mysterious allure.[24]

French painter Jean-Étienne Liotard visited Istanbul in the 17th century and painted pastels of Turkish domestic scenes. British painter John Frederick Lewis who lived for several years in a traditional mansion in Cairo, painted highly detailed works showing realistic genre scenes of Middle Eastern life. Edwin Lord Weeks was a notable American example of a 19th-century artist and author in the Orientalism genre. His parents were wealthy tea and spice merchants who were able to fund his travels and interest in painting. In 1895 Weeks wrote and illustrated a book of travels titled From the Black Sea through Persia and India. Other notable painters in the Orientalist genre who included scenes of street life and market-based trade in their work are Jean-Léon Gérôme Delacroix (1824–1904), Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1803–1860), Frederic Leighton (1830–1896), Eugène Alexis Girardet 1853–1907 and William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), who all found inspiration in Oriental street scenes, trading and commerce.[25]

A proliferation of both Oriental fiction and travel writing occurred during the early modern period.[26] British Romantic literature in the Orientalism tradition has its origins in the early eighteenth century, with the first translations of The Arabian Nights (translated into English from the French in 1705–08). The popularity of this work inspired authors to develop a new genre, the Oriental tale. Samuel Johnson's History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, (1759) is mid-century example of the genre.[27] Byron's Oriental Tales, is another example of the Romantic Orientalism genre.[28]

Many English visitors to the Orient wrote narratives around their travels. Although these works were purportedly non-fiction, they were notoriously unreliable. Many of these accounts provided detailed descriptions of market places, trading and commerce.[29] Examples of travel writing include: Les Mysteres de L'Egypte Devoiles by Olympe Audouard published in 1865[30] and Jacques Majorelle's Road Trip Diary of a Painter in the Atlas and the Anti-Atlas published in 1922[31]

• Selected paintings & watercolours with bazaar scenes as subject matter
• 
  Marriage Procession in a Bazaar, unknown, 1645
• 
  Silk Mercers' Bazaar, Cairo by David Roberts, Cairo, 1838, in The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
• 
  Bazaar El Moo Ristan, by David Roberts, 1838
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  Bazaar of the Coppersmiths by David Roberts, 1838
• 
  The Bazaar, by Alexandre Defaux, 1856
• 
  Dans le Souk aux Cuivres by Nicola Forcella, before 1868
• 
  Bazaar by Vasily Vereshchagin, c. 1870
• 
  Copper Market, Cairo by Edward Angelo Goodall, 1871
• 
  A Market in Isphahan by Edwin Lord Weeks, 1887
• 
  The Metalsmiths Shop, Edwin Lord Weeks, late 19th century
• 
  Moroccan Market, Rabat, by Edwin Lord Weeks, 1880
• 
  Cashmere Travellers in a Street of Delhi by Edwin Lord Weeks 1880
• 
  Grain Market in Fez by Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck, undated
• 
  Moroccan Market Scene by Louis Comfort Tiffany, undated
• 
  A Bazaar, Oil painting, Wellcome
• 
  Vendors in the Covered Bazaar Istanbul by Vittorio Amadeo Preziosi,1851
• 
  A Turkish Bazaar by Amadeo Preziosi, 1854
• 
  The Spice Sellers by Vittorio Amadeo Preziosi, 19th century
• 
  Figures in the Bazaar Constantinople, by Amedeo Preziosi, 19th century
• 
  The Silk Bazaar by Amedeo Preziosi, late 19th century
• 
  Bazaar by Otto Heyden, 1869
• 
  Nizhny Novgorod, Lower Bazaar by Alexey Bogolyubov, 1878
• 
  Souk at Konstantynopolu by Stanisław Chlebowski, 19th century
• 
  Inside the Souk, Cairo by Charles Wilda, 1892
• 
  Bazaar in Samarkand, by Gigo Gabashvili, 1896
• 
  Bazaar in Samarkand, illustration by Léon Benett for a Jules Verne novel, 1893
• 
  The Barber at the Souk by Enrique Simonet, 1897
• 
  The Tentmakers' Bazaar, Cairo, 1907
• 
  Souk Silah, the Armourers' Bazaar, Cairo, from D.S. Margoliouth, Cairo, Jerusalem, & Damascus: three chief cities of the Egyptian Sultans, 1907
• 
  People on the Street of a Bazaar at Midan El-Adaoui from D.S. Margoliouth, Cairo, Jerusalem, & Damascus: three chief cities of the Egyptian Sultans, 1907
• 
  Bazaar at the Souk Hamareh, Damascus by from D.S. Margoliouth, Cairo, Jerusalem, & Damascus: three chief cities of the Egyptian Sultans, 1907
• 
  Bazaar with Bagels by Ivan Koulikov, 1910
• 
  The Silk Bazaar, Damascus – Australians buying goods, 1918
• 
  Scenery at a North African Bazaar, by John Gleich, 20th century
• 
  The Bazaar at Constantinople, watercolour by J. F. Lewis, Wellcome
• 
  The Char-Chatta Bazaar of Kabul by A. Gh. Brechna, 1932
• 
  Bazaar in the Old City, by Ludwig Blum, 1944

• The Persian Bazaar: Veiled Space of Desire (Mage Publications) by Mehdi Khansari
• The Morphology of the Persian Bazaar (Agah Publications) by Azita Rajabi.
• Assari, Ali; T.M.Mahesh (December 2011). "Compararative Sustainability of Bazaar in Iranian Traditional Cities: Case Studies in Isfahan and Tabriz" (PDF). International Journal on Technical and Physical Problems of Engineering. 3 (9): 18–24. Retrieved 6 January 2013.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bazaars.

• Iran Chamber Society on Architecture of the Bazaar at Isfahan
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bazaar" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 559.