Ulmen is a

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

word meaning "rich man". In

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

society, the wealthy men were usually the

lonco A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather ...

s and would often be the influential leaders of their

rehue A rehue (Mapudungun spelling rewe) or kemukemu is a type of Column, pillar-like sacred altar used by the Mapuche of Chile and Argentina in many of their ceremonies. Altar/Axis mundi The ''rehue'' is a carved tree trunk set in the ground, s ...

and

aillarehue Aillarehue or Ayllarehue (from the Mapudungun: ayllarewe/ayjarewe: "nine rehues"); a confederation of rehues or family-based units (lof) that dominated a region or province. It was the old administrative and territorial division of the Mapuche, H ...

. If skilled in war, like the military leader

Caupolicán Caupolicán (meaning ‘polished flint’ (queupu) or ‘blue quartz stone’ (Kallfulikan) in Mapudungun) was a ''toqui'' or war leader of the Mapuche people, who led the resistance of his people against the Spanish Conquistadors who invaded the ...

, they were sometimes elected

toqui Toqui (or Toki) (Mapudungun for ''axe'' or ''axe-bearer'') is a title conferred by the Mapuche (an indigenous Chilean and Argentines, Argentinian people) on those chosen as leaders during times of war. The toqui is chosen in an assembly or parl ...

Sources

{{Mapuche Society of Chile Mapuche society