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The Tiwanaku & Wari Empires. The Tiwanaku and Wari empires were two powerful, contemporary highland civilizations that dominated the southern and central Andes from roughly 500 CE to 1000 CE. Tiwanaku was centered near Lake Titicaca in modern Bolivia, while Wari was based in the Peruvian highlands. These twin empires matter because they established early imperial templates across the Andes, pioneering extensive terraced agriculture, state-built road networks, and standardized religious iconography centered on the Staff God.
Tiwanaku built massive stone monuments, such as the Gateway of the Sun, utilizing precise masonry and raised-field farming to sustain vast urban populations in high-altitude environments. Wari operated as a highly centralized military state, constructing administrative centers to extract tribute and manage trade across diverse ecological zones. Both empires maintained peaceful diplomatic and trade relationships despite their expansive borders. A severe, centuries-long drought across the Andes eventually caused both states to collapse around 1000 CE.