AC9HH8K13 Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences

Content descriptor a significant development, event, turning point or challenge that contributed to continuity and change in the Asian-Pacific society

Elaborations

Angkor/Khmer Empire

• • Elaboration investigating theories about the decline of the Khmer Empire; for example, the development of an unstable climate such as drought and monsoons, the rise of Theravada Buddhism, the breakdown of Angkor’s water management system
• • Elaboration explaining how being revered as the “god-king” or “deva-raja” enabled the Khmer kings to rule over the empire with absolute authority, thereby enhancing their ability to mobilise the population to defend the empire as well as to invade neighbours
• • Elaboration explaining the significance of the archaeological site of Angkor Wat as a demonstration of the empire’s power
• • Elaboration explaining how archaeologists and paleo-environmentalists have established the prevalence of droughts in the 14th–15th centuries and the impact of these droughts on the empire

Japan under the Shoguns

• • Elaboration explaining reasons for Japan’s closure to foreigners under the Tokugawa Shogunate and the impact of US Commodore Perry’s visit in 1853
• • Elaboration explaining the continuity of Shogunate power in areas such as trade, resource use and social classes
• • Elaboration outlining the reasons for attempts by the Tokugawa Shogunate to curb deforestation, such as imposing heavy regulations on farmers, managing the harvesting of trees, and using new, lighter and more efficient construction techniques
• • Elaboration explaining the role of the daimyo in contributing to the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate

Polynesian expansion across the Pacific

• • Elaboration outlining different theories about the expansion; for example, west–east and east–west movements of settling peoples, and/or the expansion as accidental versus intentional
• • Elaboration investigating the construction of the moai (giant statues) on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), the techniques used to make and transport them, and theories about their meaning, such as that they are representations of dead ancestors or chiefs
• • Elaboration explaining the significance of Rahui as a way of prohibiting the collection of resources to ensure their sustainability as a response to the decline and extinction of animals such as the moa
• • Elaboration explaining how environmental challenges were overcome on different islands to make settlement possible; for example, the practice of aquaculture in Nauru and/or agricultural practices in Hawaii