An ''agadir'' (, plural: ''igudar'' or ''iguidar'', "the wall" or "the fortified compound") is a fortified communal

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

found in the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

. In Morocco, ''agadir''s are most commonly found in the regions of the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas mountains, and the Draa Valley. Some of them date back to the 10th century. Fortified granaries are also common in southern Tunisia, where they are referred to as a ''kasbah'' or, in the case of another type, as a '' ghorfa''. In Algeria, they were once common in the Aurès Mountains, where they were known as a '' gal'a'', but these were in the process of disappearing by the late 20th century.

Name

The term ''agadir'' is

Amazigh Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...

, borrowed from , meaning "wall", "compound", or (by

metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...

) "stronghold"."Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions"
p. 141
''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland''. Accessed 24 July 2013. The word ''agadir'' is common in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

n place names, such as

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and the cities

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

and Gedera are also etymologically related. The word '' al-Makhzen'' (), used to refer to the Moroccan state apparatus, also means storehouse, but in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Description

These structures are typically composed of a granary and a

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

, and are located in rocky, elevated locations to protect surrounding farms and livestock from enemies. In Morocco, they were typically built either of rammed earth or of dry stone masonry. Some of the large examples built in dry stone consist of multi-story structures laid out along narrow internal alleys. Each story is made up of a row of cell-like rooms, with upper rooms being accessible from the outside via protruding stones inserted into the facades. Rammed-earth constructions are more common in the High Atlas region, where the design of ''agadir''s is more akin to that of the region's traditional houses, sometimes featuring exterior decoration executed in

mudbrick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

. Multi-level structures are also known in southern Tunisia, where they are known as a '' ghorfa'', though only a few have been preserved today. These consist of cell-like rooms stacked over each other up to four stories, with their entrances all facing an internal yard or court. File:Agadir Imi'm Korn (Gang).jpg, The File:Timit, Agadir Sidi Moussa.jpg, The Sidi Moussa Agadir of Aït Bouguemez, Morocco File:320-006-PC264549 Crop.jpg, The in the

Souss-Massa Souss-Massa () is one of the twelve regions of Morocco, regions of Morocco. It covers an area of 51,642 km² and had a population of 2,676,847 as of the 2014 Moroccan census. The capital of the region is Agadir. Geography Souss-Massa bord ...

region, Morocco File:Id aissa 0667.JPG, The Id Aissa Agadir near Amtoudi, Morocco File:Ghorfas of Medenine.jpg, A '' ghorfa'' in Medenine, Tunisia In addition to harvested grains, Amazigh communities inhabiting the mountainous south of Morocco would use these structures to store all kinds of valuable belongings, including deeds and records, money, jewelry, clothing, carpets, and sometimes clothes and munitions. Guards were traditionally posted to ensure security.

References

Berbers Buildings and structures in Morocco Granaries {{Morocco-struct-stub

Name

Description

See also

References