Decline of the Tiwanaku Culture

Timeline

1. 1035–1038Lake Titicaca highlands · BoliviaPersistent drought made the raised-field agricultural system around Lake Titicaca unsustainable; declining potato and quinoa yields caused food shortages. Lake shrinkage damaged fisheries and irrigation sources, putting highland settlements under survival pressure and weakening the center's ability to supply outlying provinces.
2. 1038–1040City of Tiwanaku · La Paz DepartmentReligious structures such as the Gate of the Sun and the Akapana pyramid ceased large-scale maintenance, and the population of the urban core migrated to the lowlands. Subject regions declared independence, and successor powers such as Moche and Wari expanded on the Peruvian coast, ending Tiwanaku's status as the Andes' political center.