Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
East Africa, Gedi, Lamu
Further reading:
Azania Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa,
1965, ff.
J.de V.Allen and T.H.Wilson, 
Swahili Houses and Tombs of
the Coast of Kenya,
Art and Archaeology Research
Papers, London 1979.
H.N.C.Chittick, 
Manda: Excavations at an Island Port on the
Kenya Coast,
British Institute in Eastern Africa Memoir
no. 9, Nairobi 1984.
P.S.Garlake, 
Early Islamic Architecture of the East African
Coast,
British Institute in Eastern Africa Memoir no. 1,
Nairobi and London 1966.
M.C.Horton, ‘Early Muslim trading settlements on the
East African coast: new evidence from Shanga’,
Antiquaries Journal
67: 290–323, 1987.
H.Sasoon, 
Jumba La Mtwana Guide,
Mombasa 1981.
T.Wilson, 
The Monumental Architecture and Archaeology
North of the Tana River,
Nairobi 1978.
—— 
The Monumental Architecture and Archaeology of the
Central and Southern Kenyan Coast,
Nairobi, 1980.
keshk
Central Asian term used to describe mud brick
buildings with square or rectangular plan and
corrugated sides.
khan
Building which combines the function of hostel and
trading centre. Standard features which one might expect
to find in a khan are stables, store rooms, sleeping
accommodation and a mosque.
The word khan is a Persian term, indicating the
eastern (non-Roman) origin of this architectural
form. Both the Parthians and the Nabateans built
khans, the former on the eastward route to India and
and the latter on the desert routes in the Negev. The
earliest Islamic khans are found in Syria and date
from the Umayyad period; examples include Qasr
al-Hayr East and West, Khan al-Zabib and the
building at Tell al-Sadiyyeh in the Jordan valley.
These buildings all have a standard plan comprising
a square or rectangular enclosure with rooms built
around a central courtyard. During the Abbasid
period khans were established on the Darb Zubayda
(the pilgrimage route running through Iraq and
Ishikani pillar tomb, north Kenya coast (after Wilson)
keshk

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central Arabia), although the commercial importance
of these installations is not known. From the twelfth
century onwards khans became a standard feature
of Islamic architecture and were particularly popular
under the Seljuks. During this period khans began
to be established in towns where they would become
centres for trade. Also at this time the caravanserai
is established as a more specialized form of khan
catering specifically for caravans.
During the sixteenth century Ottoman khans
developed a variety of forms where the central
courtyard is enclosed; some of the best examples are
in Damascus and Aleppo. Also at this time khans
become part of larger complexes that included a
mosque, fort and bath house, as at the village of Payas
near Iskenderun in Turkey.