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== Fertility and marriage strategies across diverse societies ==
=== An overview ===
Among Han Chinese, first sons historically married earlier, had lower rates of definitive celibacy and had more children than their younger brothers.<ref name="books.google">Fate and Fortune in Rural China: Social Organization and Population Behavior … Written By James Z. Lee,Cameron D. Campbell http://books.google.es/books?id=-pybannCO7wC&pg=PR9&lpg=PR9&dq=%22Domestic+hierarchy+and+demographic+privilege%22&source=bl&ots=njg6NXBaJY&sig=PxXJKJov7zfNCwmovHFk2qlLb38&hl=es&sa=X&ei=8OnVUceLD8jD7AbHz4D4Ag&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Domestic%20hierarchy%20and%20demographic%20privilege%22&f=false</ref> Historical differences in marriage and/or reproductive success according to sex and parity due to inegalitarian social practices have also been demonstrated in Sweden,<ref>Reproductive Life in Nineteenth Century Sweden: An evolutionary Perspective on Demographic Phenomena Bobbi S. Low http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/29060/0000093.pdf?sequence=1</ref> [[Quebec]],<ref>PARENTAL AND SIBLING INFLUENCES ON THE TIMING OF MARRIAGE, XVIITH AND XVIIITH CENTURY QUÉBEC Lisa Dillon http://www.cairn.info/resume.php?ID_ARTICLE=ADH_119_0139</ref> Norway,<ref name="stanford.edu">Have the poor always been less likely to migrate? Evidence from inheritance practices during the age of mass migration☆ Ran Abramitzky a,b, ⁎, Leah Platt Boustan b,c, Katherine Eriksson http://www.stanford.edu/~ranabr/ABE_Childhood.pdf</ref><ref name="marriage choices">Marriage Choices and Class Boundaries: Social Endogamy in History Written By Marco H. D. Van Leeuwen,Ineke Maas,Andrew Miles http://books.google.es/books?id=Kmq_ZvICBnQC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=%22Social+homogamy%22+%22Norway%22&source=bl&ots=dMUyJWBUgl&sig=dNYDnOTyald1BEub1mawcTL4d5s&hl=es&sa=X&ei=2XGvUf6bO7CO7QbFiYCwDg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAQ</ref><ref>Deciding Whom to Marry in a Rural Two-Class Society: Social Homogamy and Constraints in the Marriage Market in Rendalen, Norway, 1750–1900 Hans Henrik Bull http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=7DF472B2598263EACF04024BA18E5DAF.journals?fromPage=online&aid=364423</ref> Denmark,<ref>Mass Emigration from Denmark to the United States 1868–1914 by Kristian Hvidt http://ej.lib.cbs.dk/index.php/assc/article/download/2754/2788</ref><ref>Flight to America. The Social Background of 300,000 Danish Emigrants by Kristian Hvidt http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Flight-America-Social-Background-300-000-Danish-Emigrants-Kristian-Hvidt-1975-Hardcover-/1352651</ref> Finland,<ref name="transmission">The transmission of well- being, marriage and inheritance – Siblings and family property in 18th and 19th century Finland and Sweden Beatrice Moring University of Cambridge http://www.ub.edu/tig/GWBNet/MinhoPapers/Beatrice%20Moring.pdf</ref><ref name="middleborns" /><ref name="elder">Are elder siblings helpers or competitors? Antagonistic fitness effects of sibling interactions in humans http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1750/20122313.full.pdf+html</ref><ref name="lifespan">Selection for long lifespan in men: benefits of grandfathering? M Lahdenperä*, A.F Russell and V Lummaa http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1624/2437.full.pdf+html</ref>
<ref name="sons">Producing sons reduces lifetime reproductive
success of subsequent offspring in
pre-industrial Finns http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1628/2981.full.pdf+html</ref><ref>The Dynamics of the Finnish Migration to America and the Development of Emigration Databases http://www.migrationinstitute.fi/articles/067_Heikkila-Uschanov.pdf</ref><ref name="Kaukianen">Kaukiainen, Yrjö. 1987. "Population growth and land availability in southeast Finland 1750-1840"</ref> [[Balt]] peasants,<ref>Opening Gates to the West: Lithuanian and Jewish Migrations from the Lithuanian Provinces, 1867–1914 Tomas Balkelis University College Dublin http://ces.lt/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/EtSt_Balkelis_2010.pdf</ref> [[Alsace]],<ref>Family Composition, Birth Order and Marriage Patterns: Evidence from Rural Alsace, 1750–1885 http://www.cairn.info/revue-annales-de-demographie-historique-2008-1-page-57.htm</ref> French elites,<ref>http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~mariterel/Female%20Monasticism%20and%20Family%20Strategy.pdf</ref> French peasants<ref>Pierre Maranda University of British Columbia (1974) French Kinship Structure and History Chapters Three, Four, Five and Six http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.135.1962&rep=rep1&type=pdf</ref> Ireland,<ref>Marital status and birth order in a sample of Dublin males http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/1533/walshb_article_pub_051.pdf?sequence=3</ref> [[Wallonia]],<ref>ALTER, George, ORIS,Michel (1999), “Access to Marriage in the East Ardennes during the 19th Century”</ref><ref>BRAS, Hilde, NEVEN, Muriel (2007), «Mariage et décohabitation dans deux sociétés rurales (XIXe – XXe siècles). Frères et soeurs : rivaux ou solidaires ? » 181-218, in Les fratries : Une démographie sociale de la germanité, Michel Oris, Guy Brunet, Éric Widmer et Alain Bideau (éd.), Bern, Peter Lang.</ref> the Karo [[Batak]],<ref name="faculty.washington.edu">Resource Competition and Reproduction in Karo Batak Villages Geoff Kushnick http://faculty.washington.edu/kushnick/competition.pdf</ref> [[Ethiopian]] peasants,<ref>Land inheritance establishes sibling competition for marriage and reproduction in rural Ethiopia Mhairi A. Gibsona, and Eshetu Gurmub http://www.pnas.org/content/108/6/2200.full.pdf+html</ref><ref>STUDY ON WOMEN’S PROPERTY RIGHTS IN AFAR AND OROMIYA REGIONS, ETHIOPIA Fiona Flintan, Solomon Demlie, Mohammed Awol, Zahra Humed, Yemane Belete and Honey Lemma 2008 http://edu.care.org/Documents/Women%20property%20rights%20in%20Oromiya%20and%20AFar.pdf</ref><ref>POLYGYNY, REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AND CHILD HEALTH IN RURAL ETHIOPIA: WHY MARRY A MARRIED MAN? MHAIRI A. GIBSONa1 and RUTH MACEa2 a1 Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, UK a2 Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=728744</ref> the [[Jie people|Jie]] and the [[Turkana people|Turkana]],<ref>Children of the Dancing Ground, Children of the House: Costs and Benefits of Marriage Rules (South Turkana, Kenya) Rada Dyson-Hudson, Dominique Meekers and Neville Dyson-Hudson http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3631675?uid=3737952&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102033393283</ref><ref>http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/circulation/ereserves/pdfs/courses/FALL%202007/ANTH%201150,%20MCCABE/ON%20COURSE%20NOW/CATTLE%20KEEPERS.pdf</ref><ref>Man in Adaptation: The Cultural Present edited by Yehudi A. Cohen http://books.google.es/books?id=13PoxT8kufEC&pg=PA356&lpg=PA356&dq=%22The+metamorphosis+of+the+nuclear+family-inheritance%22&source=bl&ots=cO1qLAEzlj&sig=OC3up_J4VXDIkg9ux5jmpD1t_vw&hl=es&sa=X&ei=xmcKUuOeGern7AbK_oCoAw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20metamorphosis%20of%20the%20nuclear%20family-inheritance%22&f=false</ref> the [[Datoga]],<ref>Women's strategies in polygynous marriage: Kipsigis, Datoga, and other East African cases. http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF02692266.pdf</ref> [[Dominican people|Dominicans]],<ref>Local Resource Enhancement and Sex-biased Breastfeeding in a Caribbean Community robert j. quinlan, marsha b. quinlan, and mark v. flinn http://www.libarts.wsu.edu/anthro/pdf/LRE%20&%20sex%20biased%20breastfeeding.pdf</ref> the [[Polynesians]],<ref>Gender and sexuality in hierarchical societies: the case of Polynesia and some comparative implications Sherry B. Ortner http://genpent.b.uib.no/files/2013/03/article-Ortner-Gender-and-Sesuality-in-heirachical-societies.pdf</ref> Germany,<ref>Reproductive behavior of landless agricultural workers, small farmers, and the economic elite in the historical Krummhörn region [East Frisia, Germany, 1720-1870] http://www.demogr.mpg.de/papers/working/wp-2013-011.pdf</ref><ref name="persee.fr">Famille et tenure paysanne : aux origines de la guerre des Paysans en Allemagne David Sabean lien Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations lien Year 1972 lien Volume 27 lien Issue 4-5 lien pp. 903-922 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/ahess_0395-2649_1972_num_27_4_422572</ref><ref>Verhaltensökologie menschlichen Abwanderungsverhaltens – am Beispiel der historischen Bevölkerung der Krummhörn (Ostfriesland, 18. und 19. Jahrhundert) http://bibd.uni-giessen.de/gdoc/2001/uni/d010060.pdf</ref><ref>Bäuerliches Heiratsverhalten und Stellenübertragung in den holsteinischen Elbmarschen (1650–1950) Klaus-J. Lorenzen-Schmidt∗ http://hsr-trans.zhsf.uni-koeln.de/hsrretro/docs/artikel/hsr/hsr2003_579.pdf</ref><ref>Eckart Voland lnstitut fur Anthropologie der Universitat Ghöttingen, Birgerstrasse 50, D-MOO G~ttingen, West German), Received 4 April 1983 and accepted 8 November 1983 Keywords: parental investment, infar,: mortality, sex-ratio manipulation, soeiobiology. Human Sex.Ratio Manipulation: Historical Data from a German Parish http://www.researchgate.net/publication/229105975_Human_sex-ratio_manipulation_Historical_data_from_a_german_parish/file/d912f50f90273c7a06.pdf</ref><ref>Lebensläufe, Familien, Höfe: die Bauern und Heuerleute des Osnabrückischen … edited by Jürgen Schlumbohm http://books.google.es/books?id=NYymbfiMUcAC&pg=PA379&lpg=PA379&dq=%22Belm%22+%22norm+und+praxis%22&source=bl&ots=eeK8hm3kRp&sig=BZuFP_y4ugG5dOcKyU9DDJZ0bZU&hl=es&sa=X&ei=BDdsUqzOLY6N0wXzlICACg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Belm%22%20%22norm%20und%20praxis%22&f=false</ref><ref>Rural Society and Social Networks in Nineteenth-Century Westphalia: The Role of Godparenting in Social Mobility Christine Fertig http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/jih/v039/39.4.fertig.html</ref><ref>William W. Hagen. Ordinary Prussians: Brandenburg Junkers and Villagers, 1500–1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 http://www.cambridge.org/us/knowledge/isbn/item1169900/?site_locale=en_US</ref><ref>Die gesetzlich geschlossenen hofgüter des badischen Schwarzwalds http://www.archive.org/stream/diegesetzlichge00kochgoog/diegesetzlichge00kochgoog_djvu.txt</ref><ref>Mecklenburg – Ein niederdeutsches Landes- und Volksbild Autor: Fromm, L. (?), Erscheinungsjahr: 1860 http://www.lexikus.de/bibliothek/Mecklenburg-Ein-niederdeutsches-Landes-und-Volksbild</ref><ref>The Peasants of Ottobeuren, 1487–1726 Govind Paul Sreenivasan http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511496943</ref><ref>Migration decisions in Mid-Nineteenth century Germany S Wegge 1988 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4123092</ref> Austria,<ref>Heirat als Privileg: Obrigkeitliche Heiratsbeschrankungen in Tirol und Vorarlberg 1820 bis 1920 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_social_history/summary/v033/33.1sperber.html</ref><ref>Family History Revisited: Comparative Perspectives edited by Richard Wall,Tamara K. Hareven,Joseph Ehmer http://books.google.es/books?id=8awruI9XyXsC&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=%22Marriage+patterns+in+central+europe%22&source=bl&ots=oKXC0SIuW7&sig=N5VbCyUOQ6Atg5THa9PdQsKHJUo&hl=es&sa=X&ei=CV2wUfDbHaON7Qb14oDwCw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Marriage%20patterns%20in%20central%20europe%22&f=false</ref><ref>Dividends of Kinship: Meanings and Uses of Social Relatedness edited by Peter P. Schweitzer http://books.google.es/books?id=5ma3Jpyhw4AC&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=%22Lower+AUstria%22+%22ultimogeniture%22&source=bl&ots=Zr9ZS1NaxU&sig=0k4ipO0QPVpuLcE1ak-qvIWuGWE&hl=es&sa=X&ei=g0egUreyCeXR7AbR34GQAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Lower%20AUstria%22%20%22ultimogeniture%22&f=false</ref> English elites,<ref>Quinlan, Daniel C. - Shackleford, Jean A. (1994) Economy and English Families, 1500–1850, "Journal of Interdisciplinary History", 24, n. 3, pp. 431-63.</ref> [[Ancient Rome]],<ref>Roman Monogamy Laura Betzig Evolution & Human Behavior Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/29876/0000226.pdf&embedded=true?sequence=1</ref> Italian peasants,<ref>Between Constraints and Coercion. Marriage and Social Reproduction in northern and central Italy, 18th-19th centuries http://www.unive.it/media/allegato/DIP/Economia/Working_papers/Working_papers_2012/WP_DSE_derosas_breschi_fornasin_manfredini_munno_02_12.pdf</ref><ref>Society and Politics in the Age of the Risorgimento: Essays in Honour of … Edited By John A. Davis,Paul Ginsborg http://books.google.es/books?id=5GgRamdssmkC&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq=%22In+a+number+of+important+essays+John+Hajnal%22&source=bl&ots=Xoq4uyZVD1&sig=L7OmvLOBoQ_bcc3fyASiGKIZQVE&hl=es&sa=X&ei=Zw6LUd_RE4rfPf_4gNgJ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22In%20a%20number%20of%20important%20essays%20John%20Hajnal%22&f=false</ref> Italian elites,<ref>Ecclesiastical careers and the destiny of cadets Renata Ago http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=503CD049AA763C8F3DC91D05223DC791.journals?fromPage=online&aid=1829128</ref> [[Turkish people|Turkish]] nomads,<ref>Decentralized Leadership and Network Cohesion Decentralized Leadership and the Aydınlı Chapter 10 Case Analysis 18: Age Ranking and the Endoconical Clan Hypothesis 10.1: First and second sons are more important in marital relinking within the clan than are younger sons. http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/turks/Ch.-9.pdf</ref> [[Tibet]],<ref name="polyandry">Why Polyandry Fails: Sources of Instability in Polyandrous Marriages Nancy E. Levine; Joan B. Silk http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanSociety/documents/02.pdf</ref> India,<ref>Where there is a will: Fertility behavior and sex bias in large families Tarun Jain Indian School of Business http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1367907</ref> [[Catalonia]],<ref>Eldest and younger siblings in a stem-family system: the case of rural Catalonia Andrés Barrera-González http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1829164</ref><ref>Choices and constraints: marriage and inheritance in eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Catalonia JULIE MARFANY http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=435369&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0268416006005789</ref> [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]],<ref name="ub">{{cite web|title=Being well or survive? Heirs in northwestern Spain, 18th-19th centuries|author=Ofelia Rey Castelao|publisher=Universidad de Santiago de Compostela|url=http://www.ub.edu/tig/GWBNet/MinhoPapers/Ofelia%20Rey%20English.pdf}}</ref> the Netherlands,<ref>Sibship size and status attainment across contexts: Evidence from the Netherlands, 1840–1925 Hilde Bras Jan Kok Kees Mandemakers http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol23/4/23-4.pdf</ref><ref>Sibling Position and Marriage Timing in the Netherlands, 1840–1922: A Comparison across Social Classes, Local Contexts, and Time http://intl-jfh.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/10/01/0363199013506986.abstract</ref><ref>Permanent Celibacy and Late Marriage in the Netherlands, 1890–1960 J. Kok , T. Engelen http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/pop_1634-2941_2003_num_58_1_18432</ref> Japan,<ref name="ReferenceB">Landholdings and the family life cycle in traditional Japan MASAO TAKAGI http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=35803</ref><ref name="wako.ac.jp">The Discovery of “Childhood” in Tokugawa Japan OHTA Motoko 太田素子 http://www.wako.ac.jp/human/kiyo/file/2011-0625-1138.pdf</ref><ref name="fl.reitaku-u.ac.jp">LEAVING HOME IN A STEM FAMILY SYSTEM: Departures of Heirs and Non-Heirs in Pre-lndustrial Japan SATOMI KUROSU http://www.fl.reitaku-u.ac.jp/~skurosu/MeMyself/Papers/Kurosu1996.pdf</ref><ref name="shinku.nichibun.ac.jp">Leaving Home in a Stem Family System: Patterns of Children's Migration in the Late-Nineteenth Century South Sama Satomi Kurosu http://shinku.nichibun.ac.jp/jpub/pdf/jr/IJ0701.pdf</ref><ref>Short tailors and sickly Buddhist priests: birth order and household effects on class and health in Japan, 1893–1943 Gail Honda http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1830284</ref><ref>Adoption and Samurai Mobility in Tokugawa Japan Ray A. Moore http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6975844</ref><ref name="oslo2000.uio.no">Economic and Household Factors of First Marriage in Early Modern Japan: Evidence from Two Northeastern Villages, 1716–1870 http://www.oslo2000.uio.no/program/papers/s8/s8-tsuya-kuroso.pdf</ref> [[Koreans]],<ref>Ancestor Worship and Korean Society Written By Roger L. and Dawnhee Yim Janelli http://books.google.es/books?id=VDRAah_jogMC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=%22they+know+that+parents+without+male+issue%22&source=bl&ots=PwdPNfa3eR&sig=ElGM4haj6AhdYzJMlRiulVGsBZI&hl=es&sa=X&ei=5egzUtDOJ8Gv0QX1toDIDA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22they%20know%20that%20parents%20without%20male%20issue%22&f=false</ref> the northern United States (more exactly the regions that today constitute the [[Midwest]] and the [[Northeast]] as defined by the [[United States Census Bureau]]),<ref name="journals.cambridge.org">The farm family economy in the American North, 1775–1875: an exploration of sibling differences John W. Adams and Alice Bee Kasakoff http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1829176</ref> [[Arabs]] who marry endogamously,<ref name="persee">Les modes de composition de l'alliance. Le "mariage arabe" Laurent S. Barry http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/hom_0439-4216_1998_num_38_147_370504</ref> the [[Gabra people|Gabra]],<ref>Biased parental investment and reproductive success in Gabbra pastoralists http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/405205/</ref><ref>Biased parental investment and reproductive success in Gabbra pastoralists http://www.researchgate.net/publication/227273219_Biased_parental_investment_and_reproductive_success_in_Gabbra_pastoralists/file/32bfe50fd858c8b2e8.pdf</ref><ref>BIRTH INTERVAL AND THE SEX OF CHILDREN IN A TRADITIONAL AFRICAN POPULATION: AN EVOLUTIONARY ANALYSIS RUTH MACE and REBECCA SEAR Department of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/687/1/BirthInterval_JBS29(4).pdf</ref> the [[Rendille people|Rendille]],<ref>On Pastoralist Egalitarianism: Consequences of Primogeniture among the Rendille. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/300130?uid=3737952&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102129662607</ref> [[Kipsigis people|Kipsigis]],<ref>Brothers and sisters: How sibling interactions affect optimal parental allocations. Mulder, Monique Borgerhoff http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1998-04787-002</ref> the [[Aymara people|Aymara]]<ref name="ucb.edu.bo">THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO THE POLITICS OF SACRIFICE: AN AYMARA COSMOLOGY IN ACTION http://www.ucb.edu.bo/BibliotecaAymara/docsonline/pdf/925009654.pdf</ref> the [[Orkney Islands]],<ref>Inheritance, Demographic Structure, and Marriage: a Cross-Cultural Perspective E.R. Brennan1, A.V. James2 and W.T. Morrill http://jfh.sagepub.com/content/7/3/289.short</ref> Scotland,<ref>Death knell and wedding bells’; the relationship between parental death and the timing of marriage in nineteenth century Scotland, an urban-rural comparison.</ref><ref>A history of the Scottish Highlands, Highland clans and Highland regiments Volume 2 http://archive.org/stream/scottishhighland02keltuoft/scottishhighland02keltuoft_djvu.txt</ref> and medieval and early-modern Portuguese elites.<ref name="academia.edu">Parental Investment, Social Subordination, and Population Processes among the 15th and 16th century Portuguese nobility Author: James L. Boone 1988 http://www.academia.edu/1054600/James_L._Boone_Parental_Investment_Social_Subordination_and_Population_Processes_Among_the_15th_and_16th_Century_Portuguese_Nobility_Human_Reproductive_Behavior_A_Darwinian_Perspective_L._Betzig_P._Turke_and_M._Borgerhoff-Mulder_eds._Cambridge_University_Press_1988</ref><ref name="repository.unm.edu">Parental Investment and Elite Family Structure in Preindustrial States: A Case Study of Late Medieval-Early Modern Portuguese Genealogies Author(s): James L. Boone III http://repository.unm.edu/bitstream/handle/1928/13058/Boone,%20James%20L.%20Parental%20Investment%20and%20Elite%20Family%20Structure%20in%20Preindustrial%20States.pdf?sequence=3</ref> In all these studies, with the exception of most from Germany, one from the Netherlands and the one from [[Lower Austria]], the more older brothers a man had, the lower his access to marriage and reproduction.
The custom by which one, and only one, member of a family is permitted to marry is called henogamy. The classic example is that of the patrilineal Nambūdiri Brahmans of Malabār in Tamil Nadu, India; among them, only eldest sons were permitted to marry Nambūdiri women and have legitimate children. The custom is concerned with the need to keep property intact and to limit the number of legitimate heirs, but it is also buttressed by religious teachings and belief in reincarnation.<ref>henogamy http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/261306/henogamy</ref> Among the [[Aymara people|Aymara]], a symbolical-religious meaning was attached to the higher reproductive possibilities given by custom to the eldest son, too<ref name="ucb.edu.bo"/> (see [[Systems of social stratification]]).
=== Cross-cultural comparisons ===
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