The Tihuanaco empire, known as the "mother culture" of South America, faced the abandonment of its cities and the disintegration of agricultural communities.
The Tiahuanaco civilization, also known as Tiwanaku, was a pre-Inca culture that flourished in the central Andes of South America. This agricultural community settled on the Collao plateau, in what is now Bolivia, specifically in the Lake Titicaca basin. They founded their capital, Tiwanaku, which became the political, religious and cultural center of what became a great empire. In addition, they established a network of colonies and ceremonial centers in the surrounding regions.
The mother culture of South America
The Tiahuanaco empire developed between the 6th and 11th centuries AD. and its capital was the most important center and from there it radiated its influence to a vast territory that included western Bolivia, southwest Peru and northern Argentina and Chile. 70 kilometers west of La Paz and 15 kilometers from the shores of Lake Titicaca, the spiritual and political center of the Tiwanaku culture in Bolivia, still holds many secrets.
This archaeological site is one of the most important in South America and shows the greatness and ingenuity of this civilization. Tiwanaku was made up of imposing stone structures, such as the Puerta del Sol and the Bennett Monolith, which still impress those who visit it today. In addition, it had an advanced system of irrigation canals and planned urban architecture.
Since the collapse of the empire in the 13th century, the capital city suffered intense depredation. It became a magnet for the search for hidden treasures, resulting in the loss of valuable testimonies. Furthermore, numerous historical documents show that the site was considered a simple quarry to extract materials for modern constructions.
The disintegration of the Tiahuanaco empire
The Tiahuanaco civilization suffered a mysterious disintegration around the 11th century AD. The issue is debated among historians and it is believed that factors such as climate changes, internal conflicts and external pressures may have contributed to its decline. As Tiwanaku began to weaken, other local cultures took its place.
Despite its demise as a unified empire, cultural and religious influence persisted in the region. Many of their traditions and beliefs were adopted by later cultures, including the Inca civilization that later emerged in the Andean region. Today, the archaeological remains of Tiwanaku are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and continue to be the subject of study and research to better understand the legacy of this civilization.
A Religious Power
The origins of the Tiahuanaco civilization date back to the 16th century BC. according to archaeologist Carlos Ponce, who dedicated much of his life to the study of this culture. During the first half of its history, Tiwanaku was a modest population that lived off agriculture and fishing, supplying itself with everything it needed thanks to Lake Titicaca. The domestication of the llama changed their lives since, as a pack animal, it allowed them to trade with other cultures in the Titicaca basin; Their ceramic crafts, the most abundant archaeological material for the study of their culture, along with their monumental constructions, were especially successful.
Trade allowed the Tiahuanaco culture to expand throughout much of the Andean plateau, on the border between present-day Bolívia, Peru and Chile, and consolidate a dominant position with respect to the other peoples that inhabited it. As Tiwanaku's influence grew, new cities were founded under its commercial and political umbrella; The elites of the capital, through control of the irrigation canals and trade, maintained their dominance over the other towns, which functioned as production centers according to the model of the mother city.
Rather than direct dominion, it would be correct to speak of a cultural primate, since Tiwanaku preserved his position not thanks to weapons but to his religious prestige. Such was their influence that some of their practices, such as underwater offerings or the cult of the god Wiracocha, would be adopted centuries later by the Incas. The religious facet is also the most visible legacy of the Tiahuanaco culture, since the only buildings that remain standing in the ruins of the capital are the ceremonial ones, among which the Puerta del Sol, the Akapana pyramid or the complex of Puma Punku.
Tiwanaku reached its greatest splendor between the 7th and 10th centuries, the so-called imperial period. The fact that it achieved this without resorting to military dominance makes it a rare case, especially considering that the neighboring Huati empire - on the coast of present-day Peru - was a militaristic power. For this reason, it has been speculated that in this period both cultures could have forged an alliance and constituted a dual empire, in which one provided the force of arms and the other the religious authority; theory that has not been proven so far.
The Vanished Civilization
Starting in the 10th century, that power that had been the most influential in the highlands quickly went into decline and disappeared in a few decades. The capital - which, considering its size, could have exceeded 20,000 inhabitants in its heyday - was abandoned at the end of the 11th century, at the same time that other settlements that had grown under its umbrella began to develop autonomously.
The causes of this rapid decline were initially attributed to climatic changes. Tiwanaku was highly dependent on Lake Titicaca, so a change in rainfall or flooding patterns, or in soil salinity, would have severely affected it. However, subsequent investigations concluded that although these changes occurred, they occurred after the abandonment of the city. The possibility of an invasion by other towns was also considered, since more or less at the same time the Huari empire also fell, but that theory did not explain why only the capital would have suffered the consequences.
The finds of Tiahuanaco ceramics in various settlements after the depopulation of Tiwanaku make archaeologists think of a more probable possibility: that the Tiahuanaco culture did not disappear, but simply spread and evolved differently in various places. The fact that it did not base its influence on direct control but on its prestige could have been its downfall in the long term, when the populations that had developed under its umbrella had grown enough to separate themselves from the metropolis.
Although Tiwanaku was abandoned, its cultural legacy remained. Proof of this is that centuries later, at the height of the Inca empire, Lake Titicaca continued to be a place of pilgrimage. The Incas considered the lake as the place where the world was born and the city, already in ruins, as a sacred space; They also inherited from them the cult of the god Wiracocha and some religious practices of the Tiahuanaco. Taking the keys to the success of the two great cultures of that time - from the Tiahuanaco the religious prestige and commercial network, and from the Huari the military power -, they forged a new civilization that became one of the most important in the Americas. pre-columbian.
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