{{For|the Doctor Who villain|List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens#Kraal}} {{distinguish|Graal (disambiguation){{!}}Graal|Kral (disambiguation){{!}}Kral|Krall (disambiguation){{!}}Krall}} {{Expand German|date=December 2010|Kraal}} [[Image:Kaffir Kraal near Bulawayo.jpg|thumb|260px|An illustration of a kraal near Bulawayo in the 19th century.]] thumb|260px|Building an African Kraal (July 1853, X, p.78)<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title=Building an African Kraal|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=July 1853|volume=X|page=78|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date=29 February 2016|publisher=Wesleyan Missionary Society}}</ref> [[File:Zulu kraal near Umlazi.jpg|thumb|260px|Zulu kraal near Umlazi, Natal]]{{Short description|Southern African livestock enclosure}} '''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 former Dutch colony, the enclosure was called "koraal" which means coral and which in Papiamentu is translated "kura", a word still in use today for any enclosed terrain, like a garden.
==Etymology== In the Afrikaans language a ''kraal'' is a term derived from the Portuguese word {{lang|pt|curral}},<ref>''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'': Kraal: "Origin: 1725–35; < Afrikaans < Portuguese ''curral'' pen"</ref> cognate with the Spanish-language {{lang|es|corral}}, which entered into English separately.<ref name=weekley>{{cite book|last=Weekley|first=Ernest|title=The Romance of Words|year=1912|publisher=John Murray|location=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924027421209#page/n31/mode/2up|page=23}}</ref><ref name=theal-1>{{cite book|last=Theal|first=George McCall|title=South Africa (the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, South African Republic, and all other territories south of the Zambesi)|year=1894|publisher=Unwin|location=London|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/southafricatheca00theauoft#page/n21/mode/2up|page=xix|chapter=Explanation of terms}}</ref> 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.
==Homestead== 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''{{refn|in 1894 Theal notes that the word kraal "...is also used to signify a collection of either Hottentot or Bantu Huts...", in 1910 Kidd describes a kraal as "The natives lives in round huts, which are built of wattle and daub. A kraal consists of a number of these huts grouped in a circle or crescent; the cattle-kraal, which is usually a large circular enclosure made of thorn-bush branches, being places in the centre of the circle, or else on the cord of the crescent or horseshoe." In 1913 Pettman notes that kraal may refer to "Any native village or collection of huts"<ref name=theal-1/><ref name=kidd>{{cite book|last=Kidd|first=Dudley|title=South Africa|year=1910|publisher=A. and C. Black|location=London|url=https://archive.org/stream/southafrica00kiddiala#page/n65/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name=pettman>{{cite book|last=Pettman|first=Charles|title=Africanderisms; a glossary of South African colloquial words and phrases and of place and other names|year=1913|publisher=Longmans, Green and co|location=London, New York|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924026563795#page/n301/mode/2up|page=280}}</ref>|group=nb}}, ethnographers{{who|date=January 2012}} have long recognised that its proper referent is the animal pen area within a homestead.{{citation needed|date=January 2012}} Modern ethnographers call the several human dwellings within a homestead ({{langx|xh|umzi}}, {{langx|zu|umuzi}}, {{langx|st|mutsi}}, {{langx|ss|umuti}}) houses (singular ''indlu''; plural Xhosa and Zulu {{lang|zu|izindlu}}, Sotho {{lang|st|dintlu}}, Swati {{lang|ss|tindlu}}).
Folds for animals and enclosures made specially for defensive purposes are also called kraals.
== Zulu 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'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://zulu-culture.co.za/zulu_kraal_building.php|title=Zulu Culture - Building the Zulu Kraal|website=zulu-culture.co.za|access-date=2019-07-23}}</ref> 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.
=== Layout === Kraals are built on a hill, 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Religions in Africa: Traditions in Transformation|last=Lawson|first=Thomas|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1985|isbn=0-06-065211-X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/religionsofafric00laws/page/19 19]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/religionsofafric00laws/page/19}}</ref> The huts nearest the entrance were used for guests and visitors. Additionally, there would be multiple watchtowers in the kraal.
=== Ritual uses === 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.<ref name=":0" /> These rituals were usually carried out by the headman, an important ceremonial position in traditional Zulu society.
==Notes== {{reflist|group=nb}}
==See also==
==References== {{reflist}}
== Further reading == {{commons category|Kraals}} {{refbegin}} * {{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Potgieter |editor-first=Dirk J. |author=<!--Not stated--> |year=1972 |article=Kraals, historic |language=en |article-url=https://archive.org/details/standardencyclop0006unse/page/453 |encyclopedia=Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa |volume=6 |isbn=978-0-625-00322-8 |publication-place=Cape Town |publisher=Nasou |pages=453f.}} * {{Cite book | title= Südafrikas Norden und Ostküste | publisher= Reisebuchverlag Iwanowski | location= Dormagen | year= 2006 | pages= 521 | isbn=3-933041-18-X | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v1Uq5Osqm8sC&q=fish-kraal&pg=PT532 }} * ''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie''. 21. Auflage. Mannheim: Brockhaus F.A., 2006 {{ISBN|3-7653-4115-0}}; Volume 15. * ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-59339-292-5}} (Micropædia, Volume 6). {{refend}}
Category:Fortifications by type Category:Human habitats Category:Fences Category:South African English Category:Dutch words and phrases Category:Afrikaans words and phrases Category:Zulu words and phrases