These confederations corresponded to the great geographic areas inhabited by the Mapuches in Chile.
[2] It may have included the aillurehue of the Cauquenes north of the Itata, who occasionally fought with them against the Spanish in the sixteenth century and earlier against the Inca in the Battle of the Maule.
Among the Moluche south of the Bio Bio River there were by the seventeenth century, three Butalmapu, that conformed with the main territorial identities of the Moluche: Lafkenmapu, the coastal region, Lelfünmapu the plains of the Intermediate Depression and Inapiremapu the foothills of the Andes.
In case of an external danger or the beginning of a military campaign, the loncos (caciques) of all the lofs chose a supreme military leader of the Butalmapu, called the Toqui and Gran Toqui by the Spaniards.
This leader had the right to make military decisions and usually only left his position when the campaign finished or he died.