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Historically, souqs were held outside of cities in the location where a caravan loaded with goods would stop and merchants would display their goods for sale. Souqs were held when there was a caravan or more available. At that time, souqs were more than just a market to buy and sell goods; they were also major festivals and many cultural and social activities took place in them.
Later, due to the importance of the marketplace and the growth of cities, the locations of souqs shifted to urban centers. Types of souqs that originated from this are:
Seasonal Souqs
Changes in political, economic and social styles have left only the small seasonal souqs outside villages and small towns, selling livestock and agricultural products.
Weekly markets have continued to function throughout the Arab world. Most of them are named from the day of the week when they were held. They usually have open spaces specifically designated for them inside cities. Examples of surviving markets are the Wednesday Market in Amman that specializes in the sale of used products, the Ghazl market held every Friday in Baghdad that specializes in pets; and the Fina' Market in Marakesh that offers performances such as singing, music, acrobats and circus activities.
Permanent Souqs
The souqs are traditionally specialized due to planning constraints at the beginning. The souq is divided into small souqs, each usually housed in a few narrow streets and named after the product it specialized in such as the gold souq, the fabric souq, the spice souq, the leather souq, the copy souq (for books)..etc. At the same time they were all collectively called a souq and assigned their individual name.
Some of the prominent examples are Manama Souq in Bahrain, Bizouriyya Souq in Damascus, Saray Souq in Baghdad, and Zanqat al-Niswaan in Alexandria
Traditional System
Though each neighbourhood within the city would have a local souk selling food and other essentials, the main souq was one of the central structures of a large city. A central marketplace, it was where textiles, jewellery, spices, wooden sculptures and other valuable goods as well as the money changers were arranged in a line.
A quadrilateral of stone-vaulted streets parallel to or crossing each other or a tight mass of buildings too packed together for roads to intersect them. The workshops were further away from this centre of exchange as were the main residential quarters – though the wealthier merchants or scholars might live within the centre of the city.
