An ayllu is a unit of familial or local self-organization, particularly in rural areas. Ayllu is a word in both the Quechua and Aymara

Aymara language

Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...

 languages referring to a network of families in a given area, often with a putative or fictive

Fictive kinship

Fictive kinship is a term used by anthropologists and ethnographers to distinguish between forms of kinship or social ties that are based on neither consanguinal nor affinal ties...

 common ancestor. Ayllus are distinguished by comparative self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy...

, commonly held territory, and relations of reciprocity. Members engage in shared collective labor and in reciprocal exchanges of assistance

Mutual aid

Mutual aid may refer to:*Mutual aid , a tenet of organization theories.*Mutual aid , an agreement between emergency responders.*Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, a biology book by anarchist Peter Kropotkin...

 .

Ayllus are an indigenous local government model across the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 region of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, particularly in Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. Ayllus functioned prior to Inca conquest, during the Inca and Spanish colonial period, and continue to exist to the present day.

The head of an Ayllu is called a Mallku

Mallku

Mallku is a title roughly translating as "prince" or "leader" in the Aymara language of South America. They recognise an Apu Mallku as their "supreme leader" or "king"...

 which means, literally, Condor

Condor

Condor is the name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere.They are:* The Andean Condor which inhabits the Andean mountains....

but is a title which can be roughly transliterated as prince. Representatives from the Ayllus are sent to the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu

National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu

The National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu is a confederation of traditional governing bodies of Quechua-, Aymara- and Uru-speaking highland indigenous communities in the departments of La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Tarija, Bolivia...

 (Conamaq). This body chooses an Apu Mallku

Apu Mallku

Apu Mallku is an Aymara title meaning "supreme leader" or "king" conferred on a Mallku or "prince". The Apu Mallku's mandate is to oversee the vast network of Ayllus, an ancient Andean system of governing councils that predates even the Inca empire...

as its head.