A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa 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. The term bazaar is sometimes also used to refer collectively to the merchants, bankers and craftsmen who work in that area. The term souk comes from Arabic and refers to marketplaces in the Middle East and North Africa.