The Khoikhoi ("people people" or "real people") or Khoi, also spelt Khoekhoe, are a group of Khoisan people native to southwestern Africa. Unlike the neighbouring San people, the Khoikhoi have traditionally practised pastoral agriculture. When European immigrants colonised the area after 1652, the Khoikhoi maintained large herds of Nguni cattle in the Cape region. Due to a miscommunication, the group's name was long believed by outsiders to be the Hottentots, but this term is today considered derogatory.