Bazaar city and South Asian life. A number of bazaar districts have been listed as World Heritage sites due to their historical and/or architectural significance. Visiting a bazaar or souq has also become a popular tourist pastime. The origin of the word "bazaar" comes from Persian "bāzār". from Middle Persian "wāzār", from Old Persian "vāčar", from Proto-Indo-Iranian "*wahā-čarana". The term, bazaar, spread from Persia into Arabia and ultimately throughout the Middle East. In North America, the United Kingdom and some other European countries, the term can be used as a synonym for a "rummage sale", to describe charity fundraising events held
Grand Bazaar, Istanbul exclusively to commerce. At the beginning of the 17th century the Grand Bazaar had already achieved its final shape. The enormous extent of the Ottoman Empire in three continents, and the total control of road communications between Asia and Europe, rendered the Bazaar and the surrounding "han"s or caravanserais the hub of the Mediterranean trade. According to several European travellers, at that time, and until the first half of the 19th century, the market was unrivalled in Europe with regards to the abundance, variety and quality of the goods on sale. At that time we know from European travellers that