Matrilinear
<p ><b>Matrilineality</b> is a system in which descent is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality is also a societal system in which one belongs to one's <i>matriline</i> or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles.
A <b>matriline</b> is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_descent" title="Line of descent" class="mw-redirect" >line of descent</a> from a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female" title="Female" >female</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestor" title="Ancestor" >ancestor</a> to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship" title="Kinship" >descendant</a> (of either <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex" title="Sex" >sex</a>) in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers – a mother line. In a <b>matrilineal</b> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship_and_descent" title="Kinship and descent" class="mw-redirect" >descent system</a> an individual is considered to belong to the same <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_group" title="Descent group" class="mw-redirect" >descent group</a></i> as her or his mother. This <b>matrilineal descent</b> pattern is in contrast to the more common pattern of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineal_descent" title="Patrilineal descent" class="mw-redirect" >patrilineal descent</a> from which a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name" title="Family name" >Family name</a> is usually derived.
The <i>matriline</i> of historical nobility was also called her or his <i>enatic</i> or <b>uterine</b> ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal <i>agnatic</i> ancestry treated in depth in the article <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality" title="Patrilineality" >Patrilineality</a>.
In some ancient cultures, membership in their groups was (and still <b>is</b> if in <b>bold</b>) inherited matrilineally. Example cultures or societies include the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee" title="Cherokee" >Cherokee</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw" title="Choctaw" >Choctaw</a>, <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gitksan" title="Gitksan" class="mw-redirect" >Gitksan</a></b>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haida_people" title="Haida people" >Haida</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi" title="Hopi" class="mw-redirect" >Hopi</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois" title="Iroquois" >Iroquois</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenape" title="Lenape" >Lenape</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_people" title="Navajo people" >Navajo</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlingit_people" title="Tlingit people" >Tlingit</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America" title="North America" >North America</a>; the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minangkabau_people" title="Minangkabau people" >Minangkabau</a></b> people of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Sumatra" title="West Sumatra" >West Sumatra</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia" >Indonesia</a>; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nairs" title="Nairs" class="mw-redirect" >Nairs</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala" title="Kerala" >Kerala</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunts" title="Bunts" class="mw-redirect" >Bunts</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka" title="Karnataka" >Karnataka</a> in south <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India" >India</a>; the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khasi_people" title="Khasi people" >Khasi</a></b>, <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synteng" title="Synteng" class="mw-redirect" >Jaintia</a></b> and <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_(tribe)" title="Garo (tribe)" class="mw-redirect" >Garo</a></b> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghalaya" title="Meghalaya" >Meghalaya</a> in northeast India; the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosuo" title="Mosuo" >Mosuo</a></b> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China" title="China" >China</a>; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basques" title="Basques" class="mw-redirect" >Basques</a> of Spain and France; the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akan_people" title="Akan people" >Akan</a></b> including the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashanti" title="The Ashanti" class="mw-redirect" >Ashanti</a></b> of west Africa; and the <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuaregs" title="Tuaregs" class="mw-redirect" >Tuaregs</a></b> of west and north Africa. Some of these examples are discussed in this article, see Contents below.</p>