Ksar

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A ksar (Arabic: قصر) is a village consisting of generally attached houses, often having collective granaries and other structures (mosque, bath, oven, shops) widespread among the oasis populations of the Maghreb (northern Africa.) Ksars are sometimes situated in mountain locations to make defense easier; they often are entirely within a single, continuous wall. The building material of the entire structure is normally adobe, 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.

Ksar is a Moroccan Arabic word, more correctly transliterated as qsar, singular, and qsura, plural. The Berber (amazigh) equivalent is aghrem (singular) or ighrem (plural). Ksar is generally translated as "Castle" in English, although the simplest rendering might be "fortified village," with the word sometimes taking on the meaning of "fort" depending on its specific function. The word is part of place names across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, — the region called the Maghreb; and is particularly prevalent on the Saharan side of the various ranges of the Atlas Mountains and the valley of the Draa River.

The Spanish term Alcázar is derived from this Maghrebi word, and means exactly the same thing.