Souq center of urban cities where it spread out along the city streets, typically in a linear pattern. Around this time, permanent souqs also became covered marketplaces. In tribal areas, where seasonal souks operated, neutrality from tribal conflicts was usually declared for the period of operation of a souq to permit the unhampered exchange of surplus goods. Some of the seasonal markets were held at specific times of the year and became associated with particular types of produce such as Suq Hijr in Bahrain, noted for its dates while Suq 'Adan was known for its spices and perfumes. In spite of
Souq African traditional markets. Other spellings of this word involving the letter "Q" (sooq, souq, so'oq...) were likely developed using English and thus refer to Western Asian/Arab traditional markets, as British colonialism was present there during the 19th and 20th centuries. In Modern Standard Arabic the term "al-sooq" refers to markets in both the physical sense and the abstract economic sense (e.g., an Arabic-speaker would speak of the "sooq" in the old city as well as the "sooq" for oil, and would call the concept of the free market السوق الحرّ "as-sūq al-ḥurr"). In northern Morocco, the Spanish corruption "socco" is