In this thesis we study the phase diagrams of Z_n symmetric chains. We start with investigating the topological phases of the Kitaev chain, a Z₂ symmetric model, with long range couplings and a phase gradient. Then we go beyond the free fermion classification of topological phases and consider the effect of interactions by studying the Kitaev-Hubbard chain, incorporating a density-density interaction. Next we move on to the Z₃ symmetric models and present a frustration free model with an exact three-fold degenerate ground state. In the end we present the phase diagram of a hopping model of Z₃ Fock parafermions, the generalization of polarized Dirac fermions which could host at most two particles per site. The model has a pairwise hopping which is forbidden for fermions. In our studies we use analytical methods like the Lieb-Schultz-Mattis method, bosonization and conformal field theory, as well as numerical ones like exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group.