tribelet

territorial and political unit

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In Native American: The Southwest and the southern Pacific Coast
…political organization known as the tribelet: moderately sized sedentary groups characterized by hierarchical but highly independent relationships both within and between polities.
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In California Indian: Regional and territorial organization
…several independent geopolitical units, or tribelets. These were tightly organized polities that nonetheless recognized cultural connections to the other polities within the tribe; they were perhaps most analogous to the many independent bands of Sioux. Tribelets generally ranged in size from about a hundred to a few thousand people, depending…
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