Michimalonco

Michima Lonco ( – ) (lonco meaning "head" or "chief" in Mapudungun) was a Mapuche chief who ruled as an independent sovereign over the territory of the Aconcagua, Mapocho and Maipo valleys. He freed the Picunche (northern mapuches) from Inca rule and he put up tenacious resistance to the conquest of their territories by the Spanish Empire. He presented himself to the Spaniards, naked and covered by a black pigmentation.

== Against Inca rule == He was invested as curaca along with his brother Trangolonco. Both ruled over a good part of the Aconcagua valley as local chiefs, under the authority of the Inca governor Quilicanta. in 1533 it welcomed the first Spaniard to arrive in the central area of current Chilean territory, Gonzalo Calvo de Barrientos, who had abandoned the viceroyalty of Peru insulted by Francisco Pizarro, who had him flogged and plucked as punishment for theft. After receiving confirmation of the fall of the Inca Empire from him, Michimalonco faced off against the governor Quilicanta and against the loncos who continued to serve the Inca empire, with the aim of becoming independent from Inca rule. He appointed Barrientos as general of his army and he taught them Spanish war tactics. Michimalonco manages to defeat Naglonco, thus taking over the entire Maipo valley. Later, after the arrival and departure of the Spanish Diego de Almagro, Michimalonco confronts and expels Quilicanta, who escapes, a fact that restores the Picunche independence with Michimalonco as their ruler.