South Africa Region

In Southern Africa, the Zulu, the Swazi, and, in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, the Nguni construct frame domes, using concentric hoops. Others make a ring of poles inserted into the ground and brought together in a crest, either as a continuous curve (early Xhosa) or to a point (Sotho). These structures are expertly thatched; the Zulu domes, or indlu, have finely detailed entrances. Some Nguni types have layers of mats beneath for insulation, the covering thatch being brought to a decorative finial and the whole held down with a grass rope net to withstand strong winds. Savanna kraals and compounds Later houses of the Xhosa tend toward a consistent form—the rondavel, or cylindrical, single-cell house with a conical thatched roof. This type is prevalent throughout Southern Africa. Variants in the region include a low plinth or curb supporting a domed roof (some Swazi and Zulu), flattened domes or low-pitched cones on head-height cylinders, and high, conical roofs. Methods of construction also vary, though a common method is a wall with a ring of posts and infilling of wattles or basket weave packed and plastered with mud. Rings of posts may have packed earth infilling, and in more wooded regions walls may consist mainly of timber posts. Some southern peoples, including the Venda of northeastern South Africa and the Tswana of Botswana, build veranda houses with deep, thatched eaves supported by an outer ring of posts. The units are traditionally single-cell, undivided, and illuminated only from the doorway. Additional living space may be claimed from the exterior, with a semipublic space in the front and a private space, with hard-packed earthen floor, at the rear of the dwelling being used for food preparation, cooking, and other domestic occupations. Both spaces are bounded by a low wall. In many areas houses are dispersed; in others the kraal, with huts ranged around the perimeter of a large cattle enclosure (as among the Ila of Zambia), serves a defensive function against raiders and predators. In Namibia the kraal of the Ambo (Ovambo) people had an outer concentric ring leading to cattle pens, an inner fenced meeting place, and subdivisions for wives’, visitors’, and headman’s quarters.