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. It appears that the mandate of the Apu Mallku was initially restricted to the Collasuyu (the traditional Aymara lands of Bolivia, parts of Peru and northern Chile) but it could now be interpreted (since a resolution in 2000) to extend to the bounds of the much larger former Inca realm of the Tawantinsuyu which stretched throughout the Andes incorporating the modern states of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina. The self-appellation for the people of this combined territory is Qullana.
It would seem through the ayllus system there is a large degree of coordination between both the Aymara and the Quechua nations. Apu Mallku was the title bestowed upon Evo Morales on 21 January 2006 at Tiwanaku, the day before his official inauguration as president of Bolivia.