History / Year 8 / Historical Knowledge and Understanding / Overview of the ancient to modern world

Curriculum content descriptions

key features of the medieval world (feudalism, trade routes, voyages of discovery, contact and conflict) (ACOKFH009)

Elaborations
  • identifying the major civilisations of the period (Byzantine, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Ottoman, Khmer, Mongols, Yuan and Ming dynasties, Aztec, Inca); where and when they existed; and their extent (for example, the Vikings through Europe, the Mongols across Eurasia, and the Spanish in the Americas)
  • locating the major trading routes (including the Mediterranean; the Silk Road; the sea route between China, India and the east coast of Africa; and the Columbian Exchange) on a map and identifying the nature of the trade/contact (for example, along the Silk Road – slaves, spices, silk, glassware, spread of knowledge and diseases)
  • describing beliefs about the world and the voyages of discovery (European and Asian), the nature of the voyages and the redrawing of the map of the world
  • explaining the significance of land ownership in the practice of feudalism and the nature of feudalism in Europe (for example, knights) and Japan (for example, samurai)
General capabilities
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
ScOT terms

Conflict (Human relations),  Classical antiquity,  Feudalism,  Exploration,  First contact,  Distribution (Marketing)

Video

Systems of Exchange and Trade

This short (4 minute) video offers an overview of the history of world trade, focusing on the beginnings during the time of agrarian civilisations. The four great civilisations of the Romans, the Kushans, the Parthians and the Han Chinese were the key players, with their development of roads, ports and coin systems. The ...

Video

How did the world become interconnected?

This 10 minute video in 3 parts offers an overview of the growth of information networks through developments in the technologies of communication and transportation. Part 1 discusses how writing, inventions of paper and printing improved communication between societies and the development of transport and courier systems ...

Video

Why did civilisations expand?

This short video offers an overview of why civilisations expanded, by looking at the past for commonalities and patterns. The need to expand is one such pattern with massive empires growing then collapsing. Expansion was necessary to pay for increasing infrastructure, government and the military, and internal resources ...

Text

Sample Teaching and Learning Outline: Humanities and Social Sciences Year 8

Find ideas and relevant links for teaching Year 8 History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship and Economics in this resource.

Image

Simpson with his donkey at Gallipoli, 1915 - asset 2

This is a 1915 black-and-white photograph measuring 10.3 cm x 7.3 cm, of John Simpson Kirkpatrick (1892-1915) and his donkey, taken at Gallipoli. The man and the donkey are standing on the sand in front of a pile of packing cases containing supplies for the troops.

Image

The 'Dig' tree in 1878

This is a watercolour by Arthur Esam (1850-1938), created in 1878 and measuring a modest 32.5 cm x 26.7 cm. It shows a coolibah tree with two sections of bark missing - the famous 'Dig' tree of the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1861. A man (perhaps Esam himself) is standing holding the reins of a horse, and appears to be ...

Image

Ophir gold diggings in 1851 - asset 3

This is a hand-coloured lithograph made by Thomas Balcombe (1810-61), measuring 27 cm x 47.5 cm, and based on a sketch made on the spot by J Korff. It depicts gold diggings at the confluence of Summer Hill Creek and Lewis Ponds Creek at Ophir in New South Wales. A horseman is shown approaching miners standing near the creek, ...

Image

'The claim disputed', c1852

This is a watercolour, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.4 cm, by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows a well-dressed man - presumably the Gold Commissioner - arbitrating a dispute over a claim involving three diggers, probably on the Victorian gold fields. Two of the diggers are in animated discussion ...

Image

'Meeting of Major Mitchell and Edward Henty, Portland Bay, 1836'

This is a photo-engraving, approximately 52.5 cm x 69.0 cm in size, depicting two men in front of a farm greeting a party of visitors. It shows Edward Henty shaking the hand of Major Thomas Mitchell, who is on horseback. They are watched by a man standing on the left-hand side and by four members of Mitchell's party on ...

Image

Cartoon of an Australian wife kissing a US soldier, 1943

This cartoon shows a US soldier romancing the wife of an Australian soldier. A shocked Australian Army private in uniform is depicted peering from behind a curtain at his attractive wife in the arms of a suave-looking US staff sergeant, who is also in uniform. The private holds a photograph album and the uniform hats of ...

Image

'Diggers licensing, Forest Creek, 1852'

This is a black-and-white print that shows diggers (miners) at Forest Creek on the Mount Alexander diggings in Victoria lining up before the Gold Commissioner's tent to pay a licence fee. A policeman stands guard next to the tent while, in the foreground on the left, two policemen can be seen speaking to a digger. The print, ...

Image

'Australian exploration, an expedition on the march', 1874

This is a black-and-white print that depicts the ill-fated expedition, led by explorer Peter Egerton Warburton, which attempted to cross central Australia in 1873. The print shows expedition members astride camels with Warburton in the lead and an Aboriginal guide on foot in the desert. The print, which measures 35.5 cm ...

Image

John Forrest's 1874 expedition

This is a 52.5 cm x 69 cm, black-and-white photoengraving, of John and Alexander Forrest, James Sweeney, James Kennedy, Tommy Windich and Tommy Pierre with their horses after crossing the Great Victoria Desert in 1874. On the far right is the Overland Telegraph Line, about 120 kilometres north of Coober Pedy in South Australia. ...

Video

Medieval tournaments and jousting

Imagine you are riding in a medieval joust. You are dressed in armour and ride a highly-trained horse. On one arm you carry a shield and in the other hand you hold a lance. What was it really like to fight in a tournament?

Video

Medieval trebuchets and sieges

In medieval wars the trebuchet and other siege engines were used to attack castles and destroy defences. Trebuchets catapulted huge boulders, smashing down walls. They could also be used to fire diseased bodies and dead animals into a besieged castle or walled city.

Video

Journey into Japan: Japan's shoguns keep everyone in their places

What was the status of each social class in shogunate Japan? During the period from around 1600 to 1868, Japan was a feudal society. As in medieval Europe, each group had its place in a strict social order. Watch this clip to discover the roles of each group during the age when the Tokugawa shoguns ruled the country. This ...

Online

Australia's Trade through Time

Using an interactive timeline created by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, this Teacher guide provides 12 series of learning experiences that engage students in the analysis and interpretation of data about Australian trade from 1900 to the present day. Students study videos, tables, images and texts in order ...

Audio

Radio National: Peter Lalor's Bakery Hill speech

What events led to the attack on the Eureka Stockade (Eureka rebellion) on the Ballarat goldfield in 1854? This audio clip examines the famous Bakery Hill speech by activist Peter Lalor. Listen to Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter discuss the effect that the speech had on the assembled miners. Find out why this is considered a key event ...

Text

Vindolanda

This resource is about the Roman garrison established at Vindolanda. It includes extracts from the Vindolanda tablets dating from the period AD 97-103, which documented details of everyday life for a Roman soldier on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain. The resource describes the discovery of the tablets and their ...

Text

Gladiators: heroes of the Roman amphitheatre

This resource is about Roman gladiators and their role in Roman society. It covers the origins of the gladiatorial system as a funerary practice to honour the dead, which gradually became entertainment. Topic headings in the resource include: Conscripts and volunteers; Rules and regulations; Fighting-styles; Barrack life; ...