p As an historical community of people nationality is more typical of the slave-owning and feudal systems. Unlike the gens it is not based on consanguinity, but above all on common territory, language and culture. Nationalities emerged mainly as a result of the union of kindred tribes.

p The common territpry and community of language and culture typical of a nationality rested on a definite material foundation—natural, primarily agricultural economy with no social division of labour worth mentioning, peasant crafts and, later, manufacturing. Yet a nationality was not a sufficiently durable community of people because under the slave-owning system and feudalism the development of country-wide economic ties, without which close, stable connections between people could not emerge, was impossible. There were, of course, exchange of commodities and markets in the slave-owning society and under feudalism, but they were merely of local importance and were incapable of overcoming economic and political disunity.

Some nationalities, that emerged in the slave-owning system and in a number of countries under feudalism, have remained under capitalism and socialism but they have acquired specific capitalist or socialist features.