AC9HH8K16 Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences

Content descriptor interpretations about the Asian-Pacific society and events, and/or individuals and/or groups connected to the society

Elaborations

Angkor/Khmer Empire

• • Elaboration discussing theories about the causes of and/or the factors that contributed to the decline of the Khmer Empire; for example, Tai invasions, economic decline as a result of Jayavarman VII’s building program, population growth and attempts to control trade routes, religious revolution through the rise of Theravada Buddhism, internal political tension, environmental challenges such as soil sterilisation, over-intensified land use, the development of an unstable climate through drought and monsoons, and the breakdown of Angkor’s water management system

Japan under the Shoguns

• • Elaboration evaluating the significance of the range of reasons for Japan’s closure to foreigners under the Tokugawa Shogunate and the impact of US Commodore Perry’s visit in 1853

Polynesian expansion across the Pacific

• • Elaboration explaining the challenges posed by the lack of written sources in understanding the history of Polynesia, such as changes in interpretations of Lapita culture being present in Vanuatu