Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 8 students. It adopts an inquiry learning approach that develops students’ skills in investigating the Medieval Europe and the early modern world sub-strand. 

Topic

Throughout human history, societies have grown, matured, and then collapsed, making way for new innovations, people and philosophies to begin the cycle again, building on what came before. The history of Medieval Europe is no different: it has its roots in the collapse of the western Roman Empire in 456 CE.

Topic

Following the collapse of the western Roman Empire, Europe entered a period of cultural, political and economic change. The stabilising force of the Roman Empire gave way and new states and rulers stepped in to fill gaps.

Topic

For most of human history beyond living memory, the main way we know what life was like during the Medieval period is from documentary evidence that remains available to us.

Topic

As time progressed, the number of people who could read did begin to increase, as some countries began to increase the emphasis on educating their people to basic levels.

Topic

Since ancient times, most documents were written by hand. If multiple copies were needed, it would mean making multiple handwritten copies; even with a team of scribes, this was time consuming. It also meant that information could be difficult to read, depending how good a scribe’s handwriting was.

Module

This resource is aligned to Australian Curriculum: History for Year 9 students. It engages students with a rich selection of historical sources and challenges them to draw their own conclusions about the Qing Dynasty.

Topic

The Qing dynasty, sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Qing, or the Manchu dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty of China.

Topic

The Qing dynasty ruled China for nearly 270 years, lasting from 1644 until 1911; it was the last of China’s so-called conquest dynasties, the country being governed in this period by the Manchus, an ethnic group from beyond its frontiers.

Topic

The Story of The Stone is regarded by many as the greatest example of Chinese literature, and as one of the masterpieces of world literature.

Topic

Emperor Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty (since the taking of China proper in 1644) died in 1661. His son, Kangxi, took over at the age of seven and reigned for 61 years. He encouraged painting, porcelain making and literature.

Topic

In relation to the West, when the Qing dynasty began in 1644, access to Chinese markets for the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English had been restricted to Canton since 1550.