lonko

{{Short description|Tribal chief of the Mapuche people}}

File:Lonko-Kilapan-2.jpg.]]A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun longko, literally "head"), is a chief of several{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33LjAAAAMAAJ&q=lonko+OR+lonco+OR+longko+ulmen+mapuche|title=Mapuche, Seeds of the Chilean Soul: An Exhibit at the Port of History Museum at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 27-June 30, 1992|date=1992|publisher=Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino|pages=58|language=en}} In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather in a koyag or parliament and would elect a toqui to lead the warriors in battle.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33LjAAAAMAAJ&q=lonko+OR+lonco+OR+longko+toki+mapuche|title=Mapuche, Seeds of the Chilean Soul: An Exhibit at the Port of History Museum at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 27-June 30, 1992|date=1992|publisher=Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino|pages=43|language=en}} Lonco sometimes forms part of geographical names such as the city of Loncoche (English: "head of an important person").