ABSTRACT
Chimbu political units are of a larger size and result in a larger scale of political organization than has been reported in other parts of New Guinea. The Chimbu clan is larger than clans elsewhere in the New Guinea Highlands; it is perhaps more comparable to the exogamous groups which are parts of phratries or subtribes in the terminology of other ethnographers. A general tradition of origin is found throughout Chimbu, and includes some of the surrounding groups who have a slightly different langauge and culture. Interdigitation of clan territories is greater in Kamanegu than in Naregu, and it is greater in the upper Chimbu valley where settlement, land conquest, and other land transfers have been going on longer than in the Naregu area. The settlement of the western part of Chimbu territory, reaching into the middle Wahgi valley, cannot be dated in its earlier stages, but some of this occurred within living memory.
