Where these larger polities resisted the French, they were often broken into small chiefdoms.

They are patrilineal and were in several areas organized into small chiefdoms.

Some archaeologists propose that Igeum-dong was the central settlement of a small chiefdom.

By the mid-nineteenth century, about 60 small chiefdoms existed in eastern Acholiland.

It was inhabited from about 1400 until about 1600, and dominated several smaller chiefdoms.

The Bahamani kingdom by now was breaking up into smaller independent chiefdoms.

Early European explorers report that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms in the early 16th century.

This "paramount chiefdom consisted of seven or more smaller chiefdoms, representing about 50,000 people."

Some small chiefdoms were amalgamated to make fewer, economically more viable units.

Conflicts in the region eventually gave rise to the formation of many small chiefdoms, which fought amongst one another for power.