A homestead (

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

: ''umzi'') in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

is a cluster of several houses, typically occupied by a single extended family and often with an attached

kraal 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 t ...

. Such settlements are characteristic of Nguni-speaking peoples. A house within a homestead is known as an ''indlu'', plural ''tindlu'' ( Swati) or ''izindlu'' (

and Zulu).

See also