This course will comprise an integrated study of the impact of geography and environmental factors on the development of ancient and modern cultures in Asia and Australia.
TOPICS:
1. Climate and Sustainable Futures
a) Framework for global knowledge
- continents, oceans, seas, countries, climatic zones
b) Physical geography
- natural disasters – tectonic plates and earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis
- mountains, rivers and alluvial plains
c) Climate, water and atmosphere
d) The question of sustainability
e) Our impact on the world today.
2. The Human Story – an Introduction
a) The Great Migrations – especially from Africa to Asia and Australia circa 70,000 BCE
b) Milestones of prehistory – the nature of hunter-gatherer societies, the impact of the last Ice Age circa 30,000–10,000 BCE, the evolution of grain crops at the end of the Ice Age
c) The emergence of agriculture – advantages and disadvantages
d) Major agricultural civilisations – Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China
e) The growth of systems of government (tribes, kingdoms, empires)
f) The nature of historical evidence – primary and secondary sources, art, oral and folk traditions, monuments.
3. Human Systems and Cultures of Ancient India
a) Geography, climate and early human settlement
b) The development or lack of development of agriculture
c) Early civilisations and their impact on the environment
d) Social and political organisation and diversity of religious beliefs
e) Brief overview of historical developments approx. 300 BCE to 1750 CE (the Mauryan Empire, the Kushan and Gupta empires, Harsha, the Mughals).
4. Human Systems and Cultures of Ancient China
a) Geography, climate and early human settlement
b) The development of agriculture
c) Early civilisations and their impact on the environment
d) Social and political organisation and diversity of religious beliefs
e) Brief overview of historical developments approx. 300 BCE to 1800 CE, N.B. (the Qin, Han, Tang, Sung, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and China’s response to Europeans from 1550–800).
5. Human Systems and Cultures of Ancient Australia
a) Geography, climate and early human settlement
b) The impact of the environment on where they lived
c) The lack of development of intensive agriculture
d) The impact of the first Aboriginal people on the Australian environment
e) The relationship of Aboriginal people and Europeans to the environment.
6. Continuity and Diversity in Asia
a) Environmental similarities and diversity within and between Asian nations
b) Cultural continuity and diversity within and between Asian nations
- The economy and social structure of India and China
- Religious and political ideas in India and China
- Science and learning in India and China
- Internal diversity in India and China
- Brief overview of the influence of India and China on their neighbours:
- India’s influence on Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka
- China’s influence on Japan, Korea and Mongolia
- The influence of both India and China on Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam.
7. Modernisation and Progress in Asia
a) History of the modernisation process since circa 1850
- The Western challenge to tradition in India, China and Japan
- The need for modernisation in India, China and Japan
- Early attempts at modernisation in India, China and Japan
- Modernisation since 1945 in India, China and Japan.
CASE STUDIES:
Learners must undertake two individual (i.e. not group work) research investigations and present their findings in writing (each report approximately 500–1000 words in length).
1. A Threatened Species
Learners must undertake research on one of the following species of animal endangered by human activity in the name of modernisation and progress:
- the Asian elephant
- the Cambodian crocodile
- the koala
- the panda
- Przewalski’s horse
- the snow leopard
- a species of tiger (e.g. Bengal, Siberian, Sumatran)
- the Rajasthan wolf
- the Tibetan yak.
Learners will examine:
- the traditional environment in which the species has lived
- the nature of the changes to that environment which threaten the species (e.g. climate change, the introduction of different species, destruction of animal habitat by human activity – such as deforestation, soil degradation or mining, direct human exploitation)
- the extent of the threat (is it endangered, vulnerable or rare?)
- local and international efforts to protect the species.
2. The Environmental Impact of Modernisation in Asia
Learners must undertake research on one of the following examples of where modernisation has had a significant effect on the environment:
- India’s “Green Revolution”
- Tokyo’s smog problem
- China’s “Three Gorges Dam” project
- China’s re-greening of the desert
- Logging in Indonesia
- Palm sugar monoculture in Malaysia.