In the African Great Lakes region, the clan is a unit of social organisation.
It is the oldest societal structure in the region, other than family and direct lineage.
The structure is found in modern-day Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda.
[1] The people of the area use a variety of vernacular terms to describe the concept: ubwoko in Rwanda, umuryango in Burundi, ruganda in the Bunyoro and Buhaya kingdoms, igise in Buha, ishanja in Buhavu and ebika in Buganda.
[2] Clan membership is a loose concept, with the correlation to lineage based more on oral tradition and personal belief than on concrete evidence.