A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or

chiefdom A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

Tribe

The concept of

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western

Afroeurasia Afro-Eurasia (also Afroeurasia, Eurafrasia or the Old World) is a landmass comprising the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The terms are compound words of the names of its constituent parts. Its mainland is the largest and most populou ...

. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as an intermediate stage between the

band society A band society, sometimes called a camp, or in older usage, a horde, is the simplest form of human society. A band generally consists of a small kin group, no larger than an extended family or clan. The general consensus of modern anthropolog ...

of the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός '' palaios'', "old" and λίθος '' lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone t ...

stage and

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Ci ...

with centralized, super-regional government based in

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Anthropologist

Elman Service Elman Rogers Service (1915–1996) was an American cultural anthropologist. Biography He was born on May 18, 1915 in Tecumseh, Michigan and died on November 14, 1996 in Santa Barbara, California. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from the ...

distinguishes two stages of tribal societies: simple societies organized by limited instances of social rank and prestige, and more stratified societies led by chieftains or tribal kings (

s). Stratified tribal societies led by tribal kings are thought to have flourished from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

stage into the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly a ...

, albeit in competition with urban civilisations and

empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

s beginning in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. In the case of tribal societies of

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states, tribal chiefs may represent their tribe or ethnicity in a form of

self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

Chieftain

The most common types are the chairman of a council (usually of "

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and t ...

s") and/or a broader popular assembly in "parliamentary" cultures, the war chief (may be an alternative or additional post in war time), the hereditary chief, and the politically dominant medicineman. The term is usually distinct from chiefs at lower levels, such as village chief (geographically defined) or clan chief (an essentially genealogical notion). The descriptive "tribal" requires an ethno-cultural identity (racial, linguistic, religious etc.) as well as some political (representative, legislative, executive and/or judicial) expression. In certain situations, and especially in a colonial context, the most powerful member of either a

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

or a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

of such tribal, clan or village chiefs would be referred to as a paramount chief.

History

Classical sources of information about tribal societies are external descriptions such as from Greco-Roman ethnography, which identified societies, surrounding the societies of the ethnographers, as tribal. States and

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...

, particularly in the last centuries, forced their central governments onto many remaining tribal societies. In some instances tribes have retained or regained partial self-government and their lifestyles, with Indigenous peoples rights having been fought for and some being secured on state or international levels.

Terms of specific tribal chiefdoms

Americas

* ''

Lonco A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather ...

'' (mapudungun: longko, "head") among the

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sh ...

* Morubixaba — tribal Cacique (chief) of the Tupi people * Oubutu (among the Kalinago people of the southern Caribbean) * Rajiv (among the central Trinidadian people of Freeport) * Tyee, a tribal chief of the

Chinookan peoples Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River ( ...

in the Pacific Northwest of the present-day United States *

Cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Sp ...

, a term used among the Taino Nation of the

Caribbean islands Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands are ref ...

, later adopted by the Spanish to refer to all heads of

chiefdoms A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

whom they encountered:

Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (, ), also known as Cuauhtemotzín, Guatimozín, or Guatémoc, was the Aztec ruler (''tlatoani'') of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521, making him the last Aztec Emperor. The name Cuauhtemōc means "one who has descended like an eagle" ...

, Tecun Uman, Tenamaxtli, Atlácatl, Lempira, Nicarao (cacique), Tupac Amaru II *

Sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

, term of chiefdom of the Algonquian nations of present-day New England in the United States * Afro Bolivian king

Africa

* Ishe or She for male chiefs and Shekadzi for a woman ( Shona people of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mo ...

) * Agwam (

Atyap The Atyap people ( Tyap: ''A̱tyap'', singular: ''A̱tyotyap''; Hausa exonym: ''Kataf'', ''Katab'') are an ethnic group found majorly in Zangon-Kataf, Kaura and Jema'a Local Government Areas of southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. They speak th ...

and Bajju people of central

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

) * Eze (

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A ...

of Nigeria) * Gbong Gwom Jos (of the

Berom people The Berom (sometimes also spelt as Birom) is the largest autochthonous ethnic group in Plateau State, central Nigeria. Covering about four local government areas, which include Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi (Gwol) and Riyom, Berom are a ...

of Nigeria) * Ker (

Luo people The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are a Nilotic ethnic group native to western Kenya and the Mara Region of northern Tanzania in East Africa. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the Kikuyu (17.13%), the Luhya ...

) * Kgosi (amongst the Tswana people of Botswana and South Africa) * Lamido (in the Hausaland region of Niger and Nigeria) * Mogho Naba (in the Ouagadougou region of Burkina Faso) * Nkosi (Zulu, Ndebele and Xhosa peoples, South Africa and Zimbabwe) * Oba_and_Oloye.html"_;"title="anda).html"_;"title="Oba_([panda)">Oba_and_Oloye">anda).html"_;"title="Oba_([panda)">Oba_and_ Oba_and_Oloye.html"_;"title="anda).html"_;"title="Oba_([panda)">Oba_and_Oloye">anda).html"_;"title="Oba_([panda)">Oba_and_Oloye_(also_in_Nigeria,_with_various_Yoruba_people">Yoruba_ The_Yoruba_people_(,_,_)_are_a_West_African_ethnic_group_that_mainly_inhabit_parts_of_Nigeria,_Benin,_and_Togo._The_areas_of_these_countries_primarily_inhabited_by_Yoruba_are_often_collectively_referred_to_as_Yorubaland._The_Yoruba_constitute__...

Tribe

Chieftain

History

Terms of specific tribal chiefdoms

Americas

Africa

Oceania and Southeast Asia

Modern states or regions providing an organized form of tribal chiefships

Arabia

Bolivia

Botswana

Canada

Ghana

Nigeria

Oceania

Philippines

South Africa

Uganda

United States

Historical cultural differences between tribes

Political power in a tribe

Economic power in a tribe

See also

Notes

References

External links