p A gens is a historical community of people who are united by blood relationships and certain economic ties, and who jointly protect common interests and combat the elements. The economic basis of a gens was collective ownership and use of the means of production. Its members worked together and together consumed the means of livelihood they produced. A gens was headed by a council made up of all the adult men and women who elected or removed the leaders—elders and military commanders.

p In the initial stage of the development of the gens its members were those whose descent was reckoned through the mother (matriarchate). Later when the labour of men became socially more important, particularly with the spread of stockbreeding and tilling, the matriarchate was replaced by patriarchate. The father tried to leave the family property to his heirs and the gens’ property gradually became separated from collective, clan property.

p Several gentes would unite into a tribe characterised not only by a common ancestry, but also a common language and territory.

p The gens and tribe existed under the primitive system 265 and played a tremendous role in the development of society: people settled almost throughout the planet and laid the foundation for mankind’s material and spiritual, culture.

With the development of production and the rise of a class society and the state, blood relationships gradually fell apart and the gens and tribe gave way to a new historical community of people—the nationality. But the survivals of the tribal system persist for a long time and in some Asian and African countries they have remained to this day as a result of the imperialist colonial policy.