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Kraal (also spelled craal or kraul) is an Afrikaans and Dutch word, also used in South African English, for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within a Southern African settlement or village surrounded by a fence of thorn-bush branches, a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form. It is similar to a boma in eastern or central Africa.
In Curaçao, another Dutch colony, the enclosure was called "koraal" Which means coral and which in Papiamentu is translated "kura" (still in use today for any enclosed terrain, like a garden).
In the Afrikaans language a kraal is a term derived from the Portuguese word curral, [2] cognate with the Spanish-language corral , which entered into English separately. [3] [4] In Eastern and Central Africa, the equivalent word for a livestock enclosure is boma , but this has taken on wider meanings.
In some Southern African regions, the term Kraal is used in Scouting to refer to the team of Scout Leaders of a group.
The term primarily refers to the type of dispersed homestead characteristic of the Nguni-speaking peoples of southern Africa. Although from the period of colonisation, European South Africans and historians commonly referred to the entire settlement as a kraal [nb 1] , ethnographers [ who? ] have long recognised that its proper referent is the animal pen area within a homestead.[ citation needed ] Modern ethnographers call the several human dwellings within a homestead (Xhosa : umzi, Zulu : umuzi, Sotho : mutsi, Swazi : umuti) houses (singular indlu; plural Xhosa and Zulu izindlu, Sotho dintlu, Swati tindlu).
Folds for animals and enclosures made specially for defensive purposes are also called kraals.
For the Zulu people, the kraal, or isibaya, in the Zulu language, acts as a homestead, a site for ritual worship, and as a defensive position. It's laid out as a circular arrangement of beehive-shaped huts called iQukwane, [7] which were traditionally constructed by women, surrounding a cattle enclosure. They are always built on one of Zululand's many hills, orientated downwards. The term "kraal" refers both to the village itself and the central cattle enclosure.
Kraals are built on a hill sloping downwards, with the entrance facing the bottom of the hill for sanitary, defensive, and ritual purposes. There is an outside wooden fence that encompasses the entire kraal, and then an interior one for the cattle enclosure. The hut opposite of the entrance was the home of either the chief's mother or the chief himself. The huts closest to the chief's were those of his wives, with the great wife closest to his own. Closer to the entrance, the huts of the sons of the village were placed on the left side and the huts of the daughters of the village on the right. In each hut would be an umsamo, a special ritual area, with the most important umsamo located in the chief's hut. [8] The huts nearest the entrance were used for guests and visitors. Additionally, there would be multiple watchtowers in the kraal.
The umsamo within the chief's hut was an important site for communicating with ancestor spirits. Similarly, there would be a site on the cattle enclosure's west side for performance of rituals directed at ancestors. [8] These rituals were usually carried out by the headman, an important ceremonial position in traditional Zulu society.
Dingane ka Senzangakhona Zulu, commonly referred to as Dingane or Dingaan, was a Zulu prince who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828, after assassinating his brother Shaka Zulu. He set up his royal capital, uMgungundlovu, and one of numerous military encampments, or kraals, in the Emakhosini Valley just south of the White Umfolozi River, on the slope of Lion Hill (Singonyama).
The Swazi or Swati are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, inhabiting Eswatini, a sovereign kingdom in Southern Africa. EmaSwati are part of the Nguni-language speaking peoples whose origins can be traced through archaeology to East Africa where similar traditions, beliefs and cultural practices are found.
At least thirty-five languages indigenous to South Africa are spoken in the Republic, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, and English, which is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status. In addition, South African Sign Language was recognised as the twelfth official language of South Africa by the National Assembly on 3 May 2023. Unofficial languages are protected under the Constitution of South Africa, though few are mentioned by any name.
Waterkloof is an affluent suburb of the city of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, located to the east of the city centre. It is named after the original farm that stood there when Pretoria was founded in the 19th Century.
Tsotsitaal is a vernacular derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province, but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. Tsotsi is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang word for a "thug" or "robber" or "criminal", possibly from the verb "ho lotsa" "to sharpen", whose meaning has been modified in modern times to include "to con"; or from the tsetse fly, as the language was first known as Flytaal, although flaai also means "cool" or "street smart". The word taal in Afrikaans means "language".
Searsia lancea commonly known as karee, is an evergreen, frost hardy, drought resistant tree, which can reach up to 8 metres in height with a 5-metre spread. It is one of the most common trees on the Highveld and in the Bushveld in South Africa, but not found in the Lowveld. In North America, where it is naturalized, it is known as African sumac and willow rhus.
South African Bantu-speaking peoples are the majority of black South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the English word “people", common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes “Bantu”, when used in a contemporary usage and or racial context as "obsolescent and offensive", because of its strong association with the “white minority rule” with their apartheid system, however, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family.
A boma is a livestock enclosure, community enclosure, stockade, corral, small fort or a district government office, commonly used in many parts of the African Great Lakes region, as well as Central and Southern Africa. It is particularly associated with community decision making. The word originally may be from Bantu or Persian, and it has been incorporated into many African languages, as well as colonial varieties of English, French and German.
A homestead in southern Africa is a cluster of several houses, typically occupied by a single extended family and often with an attached kraal. Such settlements are characteristic of Nguni-speaking peoples. A house within a homestead is known as an indlu, plural tindlu (Swati) or izindlu.
A pen is an enclosure for holding livestock. It may also perhaps be used as a term for an enclosure for other animals such as pets that are unwanted inside the house. The term describes types of enclosures that may confine one or many animals. Construction and terminology vary depending on the region of the world, purpose, animal species to be confined, local materials used and tradition. Pen or penning as a verb refers to the act of confining animals in an enclosure.
Compound, when applied to a human habitat, refers to a cluster of buildings in an enclosure, having a shared or associated purpose, such as the houses of an extended family. The enclosure may be a wall, a fence, a hedge or some other structure, or it may be formed by the buildings themselves, when they are built around an open area or joined together.
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people are a Nguni ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily the Cape Provinces of South Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in Southern Africa and are native speakers of the IsiXhosa language.
uMgungundlovu was the royal capital of the Zulu King Dingane (1828–1840) and one of several military complexes which he maintained. He established his royal kraal in 1829 in the eMakhosini valley against Lion hill (Singonyama), just south of the White Umfolozi River.
Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa. The following list includes some examples.
The 12 January 1879 action at Sihayo's Kraal was an early skirmish in the Anglo-Zulu War. The day after launching an invasion of Zululand, the British Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford led a reconnaissance in force against the kraal of Zulu Chief Sihayo kaXongo. This was intended to secure his left flank for an advance on the Zulu capital at Ulundi and as retribution against Sihayo for the incursion of his sons into the neighbouring British Colony of Natal.
Bokoni was a pre-colonial, agro-pastoral society found in northwestern and southern parts of present-day Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Iconic to this area are stone-walled sites, found in a variety of shapes and forms. Bokoni sites also exhibit specialized farming and long-distance trading with other groups in surrounding regions. Bokoni saw occupation in varying forms between approximately 1500 and 1820 A.D.
Monyohe is a character that appears in folktales from the Sotho people. He sometimes is depicted as a serpentine or snake being with invisible powers that marries a human woman.
The Child with a Moon on his Chest is a South African folktale from the Sotho people. It is related to the cycle of the Calumniated Wife, and is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children".