- published: 03 Oct 2009
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A kasbah Arabic قصبة , or in older English casbah, and qasbah or qassabah in India, is a type of medina, Islamic city, or fortress (citadel).
It was a place for the local leader to live and a defense when a city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls, usually without windows. Sometimes, they were built on hilltops so that they could be more easily defended. Some were placed near the entrance to harbors.
Having a kasbah built was a sign of wealth of some families in the city. When colonization started in 1830, in northern Algeria, there were a great number of kasbahs that lasted for more than 100 years.
The word kasbah may also be used to describe the old part of a city, in which case it has the same meaning as a medina quarter. The Spanish word alcazaba is a cognate naming the equivalent building in Andalusia or Moorish Spain. In Portuguese, it evolved into the word alcáçova. In Turkish and Urdu the word kasaba refers to a settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city; in short, a town.
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955), known professionally as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and singer. His career began on the Off-Broadway stage and then in television in the 1980s, most notably as David Addison in Moonlighting (1985–1989). He is perhaps best known for his role of John McClane in the Die Hard series, which were critical and financial successes. He has appeared in over 60 films, including Color of Night (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Sin City (2005), Red (2010), and The Expendables 2 (2012).
Films featuring Willis have grossed between US$2.64 billion and $3.05 billion at the North American box offices, making him the eighth highest-grossing actor in a leading role and 12th-highest including supporting roles. He is a two-time Emmy Award winner, two-time Golden Globe Award winner, and has been nominated for a Saturn Award four times. He married actress Demi Moore in 1987 and they had three daughters, including Rumer, before their divorce in 2000. Since 2009, he has been married to model Emma Heming, with whom he has two daughters.