caserío

Caserío is a term used in Spanish-speaking contexts to describe a rural settlement comprising a small group of houses or farmsteads. It is typically smaller than a village and forms part of a municipality’s rural area. In everyday use, caseríos are associated with agricultural activity and may be scattered along valleys, hillsides or along a single rural road.

In the Basque Country, caserío has a more specific meaning: a traditional Basque farmstead, usually a single family dwelling with attached work buildings and a courtyard, built with regional materials such as stone and timber. These farmsteads often represent a distinctive architectural typology and social unit in the Basque rural landscape.

In several Latin American countries, caserío denotes a small rural settlement that functions as a local population center within a district. It can be an administrative unit or a census designation, and its size and facilities vary; many caseríos lack the full range of services found in larger towns.

Common characteristics include a predominantly agricultural economy, limited public services, and governance linked to the broader municipality or district. The term’s usage is contextual, encompassing both the compact farmstead meaning in Basque contexts and the broader sense of a rural hamlet in Latin American and Iberian contexts. Etymology traces to casa, house, with the suffix -erío indicating a place associated with houses.