  In this paper, we investigate a family of one-dimensional multi-component
quantum many-body systems. The interaction is an exchange interaction based on
the familiar family of integrable systems which includes the inverse square
potential. We show these systems to be integrable, and exploit this
integrability to completely determine the spectrum including degeneracy, and
thus the thermodynamics. The periodic inverse square case is worked out
explicitly. Next, we show that in the limit of strong interaction the "spin"
degrees of freedom decouple. Taking this limit for our example, we obtain a
complete solution to a lattice system introduced recently by Shastry, and
Haldane; our solution reproduces the numerical results. Finally, we emphasize
the simple explanation for the high multiplicities found in this model.
