Andonites’ loyalties were limited to the inmmediate clan. [1] The clans were blood-tie groups within the tribe, and they owed their existence to certain common interests, such as: [2] The clans served a valuable purpose in local self-government, but they greatly delayed the growth of large and strong nations. [3] During later times many clans grew out of trades and other industrial associations. [4] Many primitive clans were virtually exterminated by the practice of both abortion and infanticide. [5] The old idea of friendship meant adoption into the clan. [6] The clan peace chiefs usually ruled through the mother line; the tribal war chiefs established the father line. [7] In spite of their belief in spirits, primitive Australians still focus their religion upon the clan. [8]
During feudalism of the European Middle Ages the territorial state collapsed, and there was a reversion to the small castle groups, the reappearance of the clan and tribal stages of development. [9] Primitive man fortified his houses, and the clans solidified by mutual fear and by the inculcation of hate for foreign groups. [10] The larger territorial states had a long and bitter struggle with the smaller consanguineous clan groups. [11]
See also: UB 70:4.