Indian subcontinent · Classical Era
Maurya Empire
South Asia's first nearly-subcontinental empire
322 BCE – 185 BCE · 137 years
Unified most of the Indian subcontinent under Chandragupta and later Ashoka, who promoted Buddhism via inscribed edicts.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
Centralized empire
Writing system
Brahmi script
Estimated peak population
50,000,000
How it ended
Internal political collapse
Traits
Monumental architecture Bronze metallurgy Iron metallurgy Irrigation agriculture Standing army Long-distance trade Codified law Urban planning Seafaring Astronomical record-keeping
How Maurya Empire ended
Fragmented after weaker successors failed to hold the empire's vast administrative structure together.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Ashoka's rock and pillar edicts
- Largest pre-Mughal Indian empire by territory
- State-sponsored spread of Buddhism
Who else was alive at the same time
8 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Maurya Empire's 137-year span.
See every overlap involving Maurya Empire →