Qalat (fortress)

Qal'at as-Subeiba, Golan Heights
Qalʻat ar-Rabad (12th-13th century) in Jordan
These two qalats were built by the Ayyubids and expanded by the Mamluks to help in the fight against the Crusaders, to subdue local tribes, and to control rival emirs.

Qalat or kalata (قلعه) in Persian, and qal'a(-t) or qil'a(-t) (قلعہ‎, قلعة) in Arabic, means 'fortress', 'fortification', 'castle', or simply 'fortified place'. The common English plural is "qalats".

Qalats can range from forts like Rumkale to the mud-brick compound common throughout southwest Asia. The term is used in the entire Muslim world to indicate a defensive fortress. The term took various forms in different languages, such as qala/qal'a and qalat/qal'at (Persian and Arabic), kale (Turkish), kaleh and kalleh (Persian), qila (Urdu and Hindi), and often became part of place-names. It is even preserved in toponyms in places such as Sicily, which was occupied by the Aghlabid dynasty and then the Fatimids from the ninth to the twelfth centuries.

The word is used an various Arabic placenames.

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