Andean Middle Horizon · c. 600-1000

Wari and Tiwanaku: empires before the Inca

Centuries before the Inca, two powers ruled the high Andes: Tiwanaku by Lake Titicaca and Wari in the mountains of Peru. Students compare how each held its lands together and what the Inca later learned from them.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 700 to AD 800
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Centuries before the Inca, two powers ruled the high Andes: Tiwanaku by Lake Titicaca and Wari in the mountains of Peru. Students compare how each held its lands together and what the Inca later learned from them.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Tiwanaku, Wari and Lake Titicaca on the map.
  • Explain how farmers grew food at almost 4,000 m above sea level.
  • Name two ideas the Inca may have inherited from Wari or Tiwanaku.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 700

Two powers

Open the map in 700 AD over the central Andes. Find the Huari Empire and the Tiahuanaco Empire, as the map spells them. Which one stretches further north?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 700

A city by the lake

Zoom in on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, where Tiwanaku stood at about 3,800 m. How could a big lake help farmers so high up?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 800

Roads and outposts

Move to the Wari capital near Ayacucho, then follow the mountains south-east to Pikillacta near Cusco. Wari built planned centres like this across its lands. Why would a ruler need outposts far from the capital?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Tiwanaku and Wari both used images of a "Staff God". What might shared symbols tell us about contact between them?
  2. Wari used knotted cords called khipu to keep records. Why would a state need records, even without writing?
  3. Tiwanaku farmers built raised fields surrounded by water channels. How did these protect crops from frost?
  4. Both powers declined around 1000. Why are droughts so dangerous for societies that live from farming?
  5. The Inca later built roads and centres in similar places. What can a new empire learn from an old one?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Charlemagne, who ruled in Europe while Wari and Tiwanaku were at their height. Afterwards, compare: Charlemagne travelled constantly to control his lands. How did Wari control its lands instead, with roads, outposts and khipu records?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.