THEAFRICANS
chiefs. They varied in size and population, and they changed over time.
Some had lessthan one thousand people; a fewhad fifty thousand or more.
Whereas small chiefdoms, comprising little more than a central hamlet or
village and its immediate vicinity, were controlled directly from the center,
large chiefdoms consisted of a series of "concentric 'circles' of diminishing
control," from the core, where the paramount chief exercised his authority
directly, to the periphery, where local subchiefs were loosely allied to the
paramount.sf
Down to the nineteenth century, this regional system was
maintained despite a gradual increase in population. In some cases, para-
mount chiefs expanded their territories by placing relatives on the periph-
ery; in others, relatives struck out on their own to found independent
polities. Chiefdoms were often named for an ancestral figure, such as
Xhosa or Zulu. Sotho and Tswana chiefdoms often carried the names of
the clans of the ruling family, such as Kwena (Crocodile), Taung (Lion),
Khatla (Monkey), or Tloung (Elephant).
The populations ofthe chiefdoms were not closed entities. Besides"mem-
bers of a ruling lineage, they included people of different descent groups,
and they frequently incorporated aliens-people
who had quarreled with