The term "Tsimihety" usually refers to one of the eighteen or twenty tribes or ethnic groups of the Republic of Madagascar; however, Tsimihety possess neither political unity nor an ideology of unity. They are best described as an association of people who have a similar history of avoiding domination and of observing various traditions that maintain their independence. The name means "those who do not cut their hair," a sign of refusal to recognize a monarch. More generally, it can be taken to identify all those people who refuse to recognize the authority of external powers presented as a hierarchy. Sizable minorities of other Malagasy groups live among Tsimihety.