South 고등학교 2학년 East Asian History Journey
Chapters: 4
1. Setting out on an East Asian history journey
Inquiry through history travel · Nomadic and farming worlds
- Historical Thinking: How Historians Work – History is the study of the past using evidence. Put events in order on a timeline and read them in their context. Use primary sources (made at the time) and secondary sources (made later). Judge each source: who made it, when, why, and what is missing. Events have many causes: slow long-term causes and a short trigger. Look for both change and continuity, decide what was significant, and build an argument backed by evidence.
- East Asian History: How China, Korea and Japan Shaped Each Other – East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia and nearby lands such as Vietnam) shares a long history. Steppe herders and river-plain farmers met and clashed. Early states grew into empires. A tribute system, Chinese characters, Confucian ideas, Buddhism and law codes linked the region. Trade, Mongol conquest and the wars of the 1590s–1640s changed it, and the Qing, Joseon and Edo orders followed.
2. Sites of exchange and conflict
Exchange between regions · Religion and thought · Mongol expansion and 17th-century order · Islamic and European traders
- East Asian History: How China, Korea and Japan Shaped Each Other – East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia and nearby lands such as Vietnam) shares a long history. Steppe herders and river-plain farmers met and clashed. Early states grew into empires. A tribute system, Chinese characters, Confucian ideas, Buddhism and law codes linked the region. Trade, Mongol conquest and the wars of the 1590s–1640s changed it, and the Qing, Joseon and Edo orders followed.
- Trade Networks of the World, c. 1200–1450 – Between about 1200 and 1450, three great networks linked Afro-Eurasia: the overland Silk Roads, the sea routes of the Indian Ocean and the camel routes across the Sahara. Trade grew because regions had different goods, new technology made travel safer and cheaper, and strong states (the Song and Ming in China, the Mongol Empire, Mali, the Swahili city-states and Muslim sultanates) protected merchants. Along these routes moved not only silk, spices, gold and salt, but also religions, technologies, crops and disease. Meanwhile, states in East Asia, Dar al-Islam, South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas grew in their own ways.
3. Sites of invasion and resistance
Imperialist expansion · Asia-Pacific War and resistance · Impact of war on people
- Imperialism: Why Empires Grew and How People Resisted – Imperialism is when a powerful state takes control over other lands and peoples, by war, treaties or money. Colonialism is one form: ruling a colony directly. Between about 1870 and 1914 ('New Imperialism') industrial powers raced for colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. They wanted raw materials, markets, places to invest, ports and prestige, and excused it with racist ideas. Control grew from trading posts to unequal treaties to full colonies. The colonies were drained: raw materials left cheap, factory goods came back, local industry fell. People resisted with revolts, reforms and mass movements, and most colonies were free by the 1970s. The borders and inequalities left behind still shape the world.
- The Two World Wars Compared: Causes, Costs and the New World Order – World War I (1914–1918) grew out of militarism, rival alliances, imperial competition and nationalism, set off by one assassination in 1914. Its peace settlement, the Great Depression and the rise of dictators led to World War II (1939–1945). Both were total wars that used whole economies and new technology, and WWII killed about four times as many people, more than half of them civilians, including the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. After WWI the League of Nations failed; after WWII the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and decolonisation reshaped the world.
- Human Rights: Meaning, History, Types and Protection – Human rights are the basic freedoms and protections that belong to every person because they are human. They are universal, inalienable, indivisible and rooted in dignity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) set a common standard, later made binding through treaties. Rights are protected by constitutions, courts, commissions, the UN and civil society, and they can be limited only by fair laws that protect others.
4. Sites of peace and coexistence
Cold War in East Asia · Economic and pop-culture exchange · Historical disputes and new cooperation
- The Cold War (1945–1991) – The Cold War was a long contest (1945–1991) between two superpowers: the USA with its Western allies (capitalism, multi-party elections) and the USSR with its Eastern allies (communism, one-party rule). They never fought each other directly. Instead they formed rival alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact), raced to build nuclear weapons and reach space, backed opposite sides in proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan) and came close to nuclear war in Cuba in 1962. Many new nations, led by India and others, stayed non-aligned. Détente eased tension in the 1970s. Reforms in the USSR, the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the break-up of the USSR (1991) ended it.
- Globalisation and Global Governance – Globalisation is the growth of flows of goods, capital, information and labour that tie places together. Technology, transport and trade deals drive it. The flows are unequal: rich economies hold more power, poorer ones have weaker market access. TNCs spread production of one product across many places. Agencies like the UN, WTO, IMF and World Bank try to govern these flows, and treaties protect global commons such as Antarctica. Globalisation brings growth and cheaper goods but also inequality, conflict and environmental harm.
- Peace Education: How People Build Lasting Peace – Peace is more than 'no war'. Negative peace means no fighting. Positive peace means fairness, trust and a good life for all. Violence can be direct (hitting, war), structural (unfair rules that keep people poor) or cultural (ideas that make harm look normal). Thinkers gave us tools: Mozi taught equal care for all and opposed attacking wars; Kant said fair governments, a league of free states and kindness to visitors can make peace last; Gandhi showed non-violent resistance. Conflicts are solved step by step: cool down, listen, find needs, think of options, agree. After division or war, reconciliation is built like a bridge: talks, truth, apology, trade, family meetings and shared projects. Germany (1990) and South Africa's truth commission are examples; divided peoples such as on the Korean peninsula still discuss how peaceful unification could happen.