The Opium Wars

The British had traded with India. But with India it was more like the British had a lot of control.On the other hand, the way the British traded with China was more like the Chinese was making a lot of money off of the British. The British were tired of this so instead of just buying a lot of materials from the Chinese they decided to buy but also SELL.

This isn't a horrible idea. However, the British decided to sell drugs instead of good materials that the Chinese would've wanted. This drug was opium. Plus this also started because of the modernization that was occurring the East. China was a nation that wanted to be kept alone and isolated. But because of the new technology China had to open up to new ideas. Or be left behind.

It was called the opium war because that was the drug being sold to the Chinese. This drug was probably the first drug to be so addicting. And so destructing.

China was completely changed due to the drugs. Things changed a lot for the way China was run economically, relationships between people, and the government. This had to be stopped so a war started.

Britain won. During the war, Britain used gun powder and things like canons. They obviously beat the Chinese since they were advanced. Due to so many years of isolation, China lost a harsh defeat. While the British had ships doubled the size of the Chinese, their ships were also much stronger and not made of wood.

"The White Man's Burden"

The poem "The White Man's Burden" is by Rudyard Kipling. This poem was written due to the Spanish-American war and the way the Americans took over the Philippines. "The White Man's Burden" means all of the trouble that the Americans had to go through to "save" the Philippines. They believed that everything they were doing was helping the people of the Philippines and that it was up to them to help them. Since the Americans were "superior". They believed that they NEEDED to teach everyone how to be like them.


I think that most people understand what Kipling is trying to stay. But dont agree with him. Maybe some do. But thats probably opinions people can fight back and forth about.

The poem was written in 1899 but i think it still connects with today. Most people believe that we are in Iraq to help. That it is a "burden" to have to take care of the people in Iraq. They also believe that our idea works in their society, just as good. But thats not the way it is. It doesnt have to work like that in every society.

I think "The White Man's Burden" will basically be something Americans feel forever. Even when they are wrong. Even when we should be staying in our own territory. I guess we believe, that we are right even we are totally wrong.

"The Scramble for Africa"

Africa wasn't just invaded by Great Britain. Africa was invaded by many European nations. Which is what the title "The Scramble for Africa" is all about. This title means all of the European nations fighting and racing for a lot of African land. Which led to new divisions in Africa. The divisions we see today on the African map are divisions made by the European nations.

The main Europeans nations involved in the scramble were Britain, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy. Britain conquered most of the South and East parts of Africa. Belgium conquered most of the middle of Africa. France conquered most of the northern parts of Africa. Germany was pretty much spread out in the Mideast of Africa, in the west and the south of Africa. Spain conquered a very small part of Africa in the north to the very west. Portugal conquered in the South. Italy conquered northern and eastern parts of Africa. Like the map all the way on top.

All of these nations wanted resources they couldn't get in another places and that they could get for cheaper prices or no prices at all. Just war. They wanted resources like coal, wood and ivory. They also wanted more land. Especially to spread out imperialism. They especially wanted, like any other nation, land. More land for themselves. Since leaders are so greedy.

They were able to conquer Africa so easily because Europe had many advantages in technology. They were able to have more weapons than the Africans. Africans had things like spears, and old weapons. But Europeans had things like gun powder (rifles), canons and other weapons. Even though these were a lot of advantages, they didn't know Africa like Africa's own people. But there was a problem for the Africans. They were dived into their own groups and in the end the English people hurt them badly because they were so divided.

When the English came they divided Africa into their own places. Spain could have divided land with France how they wanted to. Not how the Africans asked them to. Europeans could care less. As long as they had what they wanted. In the end, all of the different traditions each African group had were changed. It wasn't the same anymore. Now it was what the Europeans wanted.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

(The picture to the left is Lake Victoria in Africa.
The source of the Nile River.)

The movie "Mountains of the Moon" is about Europe taking over Africa. Europe needed more materials and space to expand their industrial revolution. Materials such as ivory, wood, coal, land and more. Since Africa was nearby they were able to conquer easily,as well for other reasons. It wasn't very easy but Europe had many advantages and disadvantages. In the end, Europe won.

The hardships that Europeans faced would have scared me not to ever go back. Europe might have been technologically advanced but they had to understand they didn't have the benefit of knowing the land memorized and easily. Its always best to fight in you own territory. Its always best because you know who's around you and you don't have to worry about whats on the other side of the mountain. You can also have allies when your "home". Which makes everything easier.In new territory, you are an enemy to everyone that doesn't recognize you.

In the movie, Richard Burten gets a spear thrown at his face. The spear pierces a hole from cheek to cheek. Making holes in both cheeks. John Speak has two sticks stabbed into both his legs. Not only that but a bug also crawls into his ear. The tactics to help these two man with their problems looked more painful then the problems they went through.To get the bug out of Speak's ear they had to put something like candle wax in his ear.But that was so painful that Speak decided to stab his ear.

Europeans had to deal with Africans traditions.If they got into trouble their African friends had weird ways to help them out.They had to get use to it. They also didn't have that many Africans allies, the Europeans had more enemies than allies. Which made them fight for themselves when Africans invaded their territory.

It isn't strange, that there is an African river named after an British Queen. Well at least if you know enough about history you wouldn't find it strange. Its like asking, "Isn't it a coincidence that there's a place in England called 'York' and a place in America called 'New York'?"It isn't a coincidence, its just when the English took over they named a place in America after a place in England. Just like when Britain invaded Africa they decided to name a river after they "discovered" it, well at least to the Europeans they did.

The advancement in technology helped a lot. This gave the Europeans advantages in a big thing, WEAPONS. The Africans had their spears and things like that. But Europeans had things like gun powder and canons. For transportation they had things like ships. Europeans were decades ahead of Africans. This helped a lot. Not just with the people of Africa but also with the animals of the jungles.

In the end, Britain was able to conquer easily because of their technology. They also spread diseases. Europe wasn't just one nation. It was a lot of nations against Africa. they were able to divide land easily, by hurting those that didn't want to be divided. When the Africans were divided it made it easier for the English to conquer them since they didn't have each other anymore. The Africans were probably scared to trust anyone, since they were probably with different people. From different African groups, with different African traditions.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Matthew Perry was a United States naval officer who negotiated with the Japanese for several months. The Americans wanted to open a port, where they could trade with this isolated country. Americans also needed the supplies to run their ships, so they needed help anyways. The Japanese were very impressed by the technology that the Americans had. This opened their eyes to new ideas. Which started the modernization of Japan.

The Americans had things that the Japanese never had seen. They had massive ships, rifles, cannons, a ship run by steam and many other things. To Japan these were like futuristic ideas. Many Japanese people didn't want to open up to these ideas. But their Emperor Meiji realized that his people couldn't stay uneducated forever. He decided he needed to modernize his country.

The Japanese signed the Treaty of Kanagawa which allowed many things between Americans and the Japanese. The Americans benefited a lot from this Treaty. They received a lot of help with their ships from Japan. The Treaty stated:

1. Alliance between the United States and Japan.
2. Opening of two ports to American ships at Shimoda and Hakodate.
3. Help for any American ships around the Japanese coast.
4. Permission for American ships to buy supplies, coal, water, and other necessary provisions in Japanese ports.

Although the Americans benefited a lot so did the Japanese. Japan now had two ways to trade with other countries as well. This helped with the modernization of Japan.

Japan adapted many ideas as well. From the German they adopted the ideas of a centralized government. They also adopted ideas such as education, industrialization, advances in technology and more countries to trade with. This also started battles with neighboring countries. Such as China, Russia and Russia. Japan also now had railway and shipping lines, telegraph and telephone systems, and factories making things like sugar, glass and textiles.

The Meiji Era changed in ways that the society pyramid didn't matter anymore and nationalism sprung out full throttle. Japan now had new industries and technologies. Even when it came to voting Japan now had ideas of letting males vote. But only if they were wealthy. They were becoming a lot like America.

Now Japan is one of the most advanced countries in the world. Probably the most. With inventions that top most of the American inventions. It's ironic how it worked out. Americans gave them the boost to start their modernization and they are now basically ahead of us. Japan also had an advantage that its an archipelago. An archipelago is a large group of islands or chain. Like, Hawaii. Since it has so much water surrounding it, it can have many harbors that help when it comes to trade.

In the end, my opinion is that its good Japan didn't stay isolated. I'm sure they praise the Emperor Meiji. Without him Japan wouldn't be as advanced as it is today.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Max didn't like the way the industrial revolution had the people of Europe living. He didn't accept the idea of capitalism. He showed the workers that they should be getting their very big share, just like the owners were. They had to do the same stupid routine everyday and most of the conditions in the factories weren't that great or safe. He definitely proved his point. Communism sounded like a great idea to the workers. This way they were able to get their own piece of the pie.

Communism is a form of government where property is shared and everyone has common property. That way everyone can be equal and no one will be devastated that the work they put in never paid off. Of course, this doesn't work for the people that actually do more work then others but they had to deal with it.

Marx wanted communism to take over the world so that everyone would be equal. He believed that capitalism would cause destruction. People that worked really hard would one day want to be on top. He thought that a bloody revolution would start if the workers didn't get what they wanted. So either way they could go the communist way or just revolt. He thought the communist way would be better.

For Marx, the "bad guys" were the owners of the factories and land. The "good guys" were the workers, or the proletariats. He believed that the "bad guys" were the owners since they believed in capitalism. They of course believed in it since capitalism was on their side. The "good guys" were the workers. Since they agreed with his ideas. Plus his ideas would work in their favor.

Communism was a form of government for many nations after Marx. His ideas of fairness was a bright one to many people. It does make a lot sense, but it truly only makes a lot of sense when you're the one that is on the bottom of the social class. It would be pretty weird to find someone who likes to work harder then others and still get the same amount as the laziest person in his community. Don't you agree?

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx made a world wide revolution. He changed a government and showed new ideas to the people of Europe. His believes were different from those who thought it was okay to have long hours of work just because you were poor and lived in dirty cities. He was born into a family with two religions. He worked really hard in school even though he also remembered to have fun. He married in 1843 and moved with his wife to Paris. There he became a journalist.

Paris was becoming a very unfair industrial city. He started to see the side of capitalism. He didn't like how the industrial cities were being run. Since he really liked philosophical ideas he was determined. He was determined to change the way Paris and other industrial cities treated their workers.

Marx didnt enjoy the way the workers were treated. They worked really long hours to end up with a really low salary. The money coming in was really only for the owner of the factory. This was capitalism. People working for owners that get most of the profit. He thought everything should be fair that way everyone would be happy. Workers shouldnt have given up their money for the land owners, they should have been able to split it.

The anger that Karl Marx went through when he saw how bad the people were being treated, made him come to the decision that the people should make a communist government. Communism is a equal government where everyone can own their own things. Most things are fair in a communist society. Even though Marx promised the people a place where they can control the government more, most communist governments are ruled by the government officials.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is a positive feeling and positive doings in support of your country. It became really popular and started in the 180o's. It's one of the strongest things of all nations, no matter what type of society you run. Nationalism is when someone has devotion and loyalty for their country. Basically, patriotism. A lot of governments want their people to be loyal to them and feel like their government is the best. In order to say that you are a nationalist, you have to admit and have proof of how proud you are of your country. For me I'm proud of two countries. One country is where I was born, America. The other country is where my parents were born at. My nationality, which is Dominican.Americans represent America a lot without even noticing. Just by voting, that's one way you are supporting your country and you are supporting its government and society. I represent my pride of being American by speaking English and supporting the rights that we have. Even by standing to do the the Pledge of Allegiance.
Before Italy was known to be the Italy that it is today, it was like many other nations. It was separated and each empire had its ruler. The rulers weren't even Italian. Italians started to notice that having foreign rulers was breaking their nation apart even more. This led to the conclusion that the rulers should at least be Italian.
This led to two great leaders who believed in different things. There names were Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Mazzini was an idealist and he created the Young Italy group which only held men younger than 40. He believed that Italy would actually be better with the separated nation-states. While Garibaldi, a nationalist, was uniting all the nation-states in the South of Italy. He fought many battles to unite the South while Count Camillo di Cavour was fighting many battles to unite the North. In the end, the united state- nations were handed over to King Victor Emmanuel II.
Now that Italy was united nationalism was taking its course. Of course, there was many disagreements, especially between Mazzini and Cavour. Mazzini believed that Cavour was trying to unite Italy for the wealth of the King, instead of for the advantage of having all of the people of Italy together. With so many wars, Italy was losing its money. This made Italy a poor country entering the 20th Century.

SImon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, was a famous hero for the South American countries. He rescued them from years of monarchy. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela on July 24, 1783. He was a very privileged child because of the fact that his parents were very wealthy. Although he lost parents when he was a teenager, his guardians made sure that he received great tutoring in Venezuela and schooling in Spain. By the age of 19 he was married. His wife died shortly after they married.

He left Venezuela and traveled to Europe. In Europe, he learned the enlightenment ways of Rousseau, Locke and Voltaire. The ways of monarchy from, Napoleon Bonaparte. He learned justice, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Coming home from Europe he passed through United States, their he learned that it was fine for the people to govern themselves without having to face monarchy. These were great influences of the revolution in Latin America and started the spark of freedom for South America...

Bolivar started by joining the revolution against Spain for Venezuela in 1810. In 1811, Venezuela had received its independence but Spain was not ready to lose a colony. They attacked once again and this time Venezuela was not awaiting it. Bolivar did not give up, he was determined to be the leader of the next civil rights movement. He tried more attacks against Spain but once again failed. He made friends with the people of Haiti who had just received their independence from France. He wouldn't give up like a true leader, but he still hadn't won any freedom.

Other nations of South America, were waiting for their turn against Spain seeing how Venezuela was working to get their freedom. In 1811, it was Colombia's turn. Bolivar had an army of less than twenty-five hundred men. He made his army suffer, going through different kinds of lands and finally fighting. On August 7, Bolivar had a surprise for the Spanish defenders. The definition of his nickname, the Liberator, proved everyone that day he truly was the liberator.

Ten-thousand Spanish troops had landed in Venezuela in 1815 once again for the revolution. Meanwhile, other Hispanic countries were getting their freedom from Spain as well. Mexico had receive its independence in 1813, Argentina in 1816, in 1821, Bolivia, Peru,Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras had also received their independence. As well Venezuela, the country that had been fighting for so long. Ecuador was freed in 1822 with long companion and friend Antonio Jose de Sucre. Sucre had also helped with the other nations. Finally, in 1823 Peru and Bolivia got its independence. Bolivia was named after Bolivar. It became separate from Peru in 1825, under the honor of Simon Bolivar. After fighting with only seven-thousand, Bolivar defeated ten-thousand Spanish troops.

Bolivar was a better revolutionist leader than political leader. The different provinces were able to split from their helpful leader, leaving Bolivar with only Colombia. However after the death of his long and old friend Sucre, Bolivar resigned. Seeing how he had no one else to trust.

Bolivar fought for years. He fought for the independence of those who deserved it and he made sure that they lost their mother country, Spain. We all end up growing up right? Well the South American countries were ready for to be on their own. They just needed a little push.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

The people of France had to wait for the fall of Robespierre to start their democracy. The Reign of Terror was a period of time where people's heads were guillotined. For reasons as internal enemies towards France. The leaders of the Reign of Terror were George Danton and Maximilen Robespierre. The Reign of Terror was suppose to make all French people scared and make them want to stop the revolution. It even made people watch what they said because if anyone every heard about revolutionary ideas, that was all the evidence a jury would need to kill you.

Robespierre was one of the most powerful men in France. He was the leader of the Committee of Public Safety and the executive committee of the National Convention. Robespierre soon began to take the guillotine way to far. His own supporter started to notice and started to stand up against him. His friend Danton who was along his side was killed and before he was killed he said, "Above all, don't forget to show my head to the people - it's well worth having a look at." Although Danton was killed Robespierre was stopped. The other members of the Committee of Public Safety started to notice that something was wrong and they arrested Robespierre and killed him the next day. He was the last person ever to have his head cut off.

The Reign of Terror happened because the government was scared that everyone would keep revolting against them. They felt like they had to take action. That was their only way, they decided to threaten their people. The executions would start with a person who just looked like a threat to the government and then they would be arrested. After that they would have to kneel for their heads to get cut off. Thank god that we live in a place where we have freedom of speech.

The French Revolution:Social Causes

The French Revolution took place in the 1780's. It was a new era that started because of new political ideas where the people of France saw that they were being treated wrong. Things were unfair and for a long time the French people didn't notice it. When they finally did they decided to take matters into their own hands by defeating King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette.

They were three estates. The first estate was the Catholic clergies, the second estate was the Nobles and the third estate was the rest of the country. The rest of the country was the peasants, merchants, farmers, city workers and middle class people. The rest of the country paid the most taxes. Really high ones. After a while the people of the country didn't even have enough money to buy bread because they were paying all of their taxes. They started to understand that all the taxes they paid was only to suppport others above them. They basically paid a share that nobles and clergies should have paid instead of them. Which is why they felt like they were being used. They worked really hard only to have their work treated like it was nothing and then to have to smile at higher ranks and just keep paying was just about enough.

Most people started to think like the great Enlightenment thinkers. They thought about a world where they were able to speak up just as much as the next person. A democracy where everything was fair. A society where they could put their ideas in and have a leader that would help them and take in their ideas. Not a leader that was greedy and dozed off in important meetings where they needed a smart king. People started to get the idea of questioning everything because it was time they thought about themselves not just their king, because of this questioning a revolution began...

The people of France got together on July 14, 1789 and went to the Palace of Versailles. They were able to get the King and Queen out of their beautiful and huge palace. The King and Queen were never to return. The King and his Queen were beheaded a few years after that date.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

Heliocentrism is the theory of the Sun being at the center of the universe. This idea led to a huge dispute. Although the Earth seems to be in the middle of the universe and it looks like everything revolves around it, its not true. This theory has been discussed in many languages. In ancient India, Sage Yajnavalkya, noticed that the Sun was bigger then the Earth. He influenced the start of Heliocentrism. In ancient Greece, Aristarchus of Samos, calculated the distance of the Sun and the moon concluding that the Sun was at least 6 or 7 times bigger then the Earth. Along with these two men are many more that proved that heliocentrism.
Geocentric is the oppostie of heliocentrism, its the theory that the Earth is at the center of the universe. This was a wrong theory. This was an idea held in ancient Greek and ancient China. Ancient thinkers believed this theory because they saw that the Earth felt still and that the Sun, stars and moon moved around. The Sun, stars and moon moving around in the same routine made the very wrong theory seem very right. Even though, we learn that the Sun is definitely at the center of the universe people still do believe that the Earth is the universe's center. However, this is usually involving religious beliefs.
The theory that came first was the heliocentrism. Aristotle was one of the many who made the theory that Earth was at the middle of the universe but others like Galileo proved him wrong. By using the scientific method. Geocentrism was the theory that came out of the scientific revolution. Many used the scientific method to prove geocentrism.
Galileo was put on trial because of his disbeliefs about the earth being the center of the universe. Galileo and the church disagreed in the idea about where the earth was located. The Chruch thought that earth was at the center of the universe like many others did. However, Galileo tried to prove that was wrong by using the scientific method. This made the Church really angry leading Galileo into house arrest. The Church put him on trial so that he could admit he was wrong and that way no one would get new ideas. At the end, Galileo said that he was wrong about his beliefs. Even though, he didnt say we all knew that it was for the fear of being excommunicated.

Scientific Method:Scientific Revolution

A long time ago, before the 15oo's, many people had the wrong idea about a lot of science questions. For example, people thought that Aristotle's idea about the amount of weight affects how fast something will fall. However Aristotle was wrong, leading everyone in the wrong direction. Until Galileo proved him wrong by testing two objects in different amounts of weight.
This is why the scientific method is so important. Without actually experimenting something you can really be wrong. Even if you get the wrong idea after experimenting with something there is always room for changing your result. Scientific method includes observing, next you make a hypothesis, finally you do the experiment. You check up on your experiment and gather data. It can be in charts, graphs or notes.
The scientific method lets you know the difference between a fact, method or theory. For example, if you want to know if a bread will grow mold after being left in a dark location. You can experiment this by using the scientific method. You can get two pieces of bread and put one in the dark and another in a place with a lot of light. You can predict what is going to happen. Then you come back to both locations daily and check to see if the bread in the darker location is more moldy then the bread in the location with light.
Even though there is room for changes in results to a scientific experiment it does make you wonder if there ever is one answer?

Evolution vs. Creation

The difference between evolution and creation is that evolution has proof behind it while creation is a lot of faith. Eventhough, a lot of religous people do believe that whatever is in the bible is a fact. They are relying on something that they werent there to witness. Although no one from today was there to witness cavemen, there are fossils and DNA that help scientists look right. Its hard to choose which side is right, especially because they both seem to be. If you feel like God has helped you through out your life then you want to go with the religious side. If your just someone who needs proof then ofcourse you're going to go the scientific way.
Both sides have good points.Evolution states that all living organisms come from a common ancestor.Overtime the living organisms changed into what they needed to be to survive in their own enviroments. This is where natural selections comes in. Natural selection meant that if an animal needed to grow wings to survive it would. However, not all animals were able to change, proving that they could not be the strongest.It was indeed, the survival of the fittest.This didnt change the fact that we all come from a common ancestor. This just meant we all had different survival techniques that made is into the living organisms we are today. This is why certain species look similiar to others. Evolution has always been easy to proof with fossils but with new technology there has always been new ways to prove. For example, gel electrophorosis.
The religious side states that all living things and humanity came from God. The religious idea has been banned in schools all over America. Since they dont feel they should get children into new ideas, then what they are taught at home. According to Christianity, God worked long and hard for 6 days creating Earth. Earth's elements, humans and animals. On the 7th day he rested from all the work. The proof that the church had to back themselves up with is Jesus and his disciples. How they made sure that everything that happen was written down to pass down from century to century. Most people dont think its right to just believe in what someone wrote. But other people arent because they have a very stong faith.
Both sides would probably battle for a long time. You can believe in monkeys that evolved to us humans or an almighty God. A lot of people believe that creationism is there just to explain the unexplainable, they could be wrong or they could be right. Who's to know for sure??

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