Opium war- Imperialism in china

The opium wars were fought during the years 1839-1842. China fought the opium wars against britain. Before the opium war, China did not have interest in the countries in the Western Hemisphere. The tea that was only avaliable in China was a very popular drink in Great Britain. So Great Britain would trade with China for the tea. In exchange, China did not want any of the ideas that the countries in the Western Hemisphere had. Great Britain felt like this trading system wasn't balanced. They felt that they needed to buy and sell from China not just buy. In order to balance this trading system, they decided to sell China Opium. There were different views of the effects of Opium. The Chinese thought that Opium was used to make herion and morphine. While Great Britain thought it was a medicene used to relieve pain reduce hunger and thirst.

So in the end, Great Britain ended up winning and China felt humiliated. China tried so hard to eliminate the drug from their country but Great Britain could not let that happen. So in 1841, Great Britain sent gunboats to destroy most of China's costals cities. China was left destroyed after this surprise attack because China was behind in modern weapons and technology. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjiing in 1842. It is called the opium wars because it was a war of the drug opium. Great Britain won becuase they were moire advanced in modern technology and weapons.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In the movie "Mountains of the Moon", Europeans traveled to Africa in search of the source of the Nile River. Europeans had more power over Africa, however they faced many hardships in Africa. They need to face the fact that there are alot of bugs that can harm them. Such as the mosquitos that carry around Malaria. One of the Europeans had a beetle go inside his ear. Then he got a sharp object and put it in his ear. He ended up killing the bug but injured his ear. They also needed to communicate with the people in Africa even though they dont understand them.

They would name the river after their queen because they found it and they had more control over Africa. They had more power and control over Africa and since they found it, they named it after their queen. Europeans have greater technology such as a gun while Africans still fought with sticks and stones. They are moer advanced in technology then Africa.

Imperalism project

In the imperalism project, we cut out cotton, slaves, copper, etc. We then glued them to an empty world map in the specific place in wehich they grew. For the slaves they had to glue them to the certain country in which they were kept. After that, we had to color in the main country in England. With that same color we had color in the countries that the main country controlled. This showed imperialism because the country that was colored in Europe was the main country. The other countries that were colored in the same color somewhere else in the world, was the country they controlled. This is what the imperialism project was all about.

Karl Marx and communism

Karl Marx was a guy that didn't agree with the industrial revolution. He came up with the idea of communism. He thought that workers should be paid the same amount of money. That means if you work as a doctor, and you live in a communist country, then you would get paid the same amount of money as someone working as a cashier. Karl Marx believed that capitalism and socialism was bound to fail. 

He wanted communism to rise around the world because he thought communism was better than socialism and capitalism. To him the good guys were the factory workers who worked long hours at minimum wage. They knew that they were being mistreated and they should be paid the same amount as everyone else. The bad guys to him were the owners of businesses, mostly factory owners. He thought they were the bad guys because they controlled everything and they got paid more than the workers and they dont do as much work as the factory workers. Communism might have been a good idea in his mind but when you actually put the idea into work, it doesnt always work out the way you plan it. Thats why the countries that seem to follow communism ideas, usually dont last. They convert into what we have here in the United States, capitalism or socialism.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx didn't like how workers were treated. He says that the conditions in the factories that they worked in. The factories were unsafe and harsh.  Karl Marx didn't agree with the treatment of workers in the industrial revolution. Which is why he came up with the idea of communism.  Karl believed that workers should unite as one and sort of rebel and not take the treatment from the factories in which they worked in. In his idea of communism, workers would share the money they made among other "communist" people. The money would be distributed among the people based on what they worked for and what they needed it for. 

He ended up dying in 1883.  He got inspired by the way workers were treated in the factories. Communism still lived on after he died. People after Karl Marx expanded on the idea of communism which is what we know today.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is belonging to a certain country. You would be willling to fight for and die for your country. This is the basics of Nationalism. Nationalism exists everywhere and is a new concept. You know what nation you belong to by the borders that surrond that country. I am nationalistic because i live in the United States and i use the same money that everyone else uses in this country. Even though i didnt live through the history that the country lived through, i know what happened like when the American Revolution happened. America was trying to break free and gain its independence from Great Britain.
Nationalism is known to break an important empire. For example it broke up the Austrain-Hungratian but it made Italy become one. Even though Italy was being under Austria's rule, they wanted to be free from them. They wanted to be free from them because they had different ideas then Austria. They organized a group that italians made up called the Young Italy and no one over the age of 40 could join. Italy was different before it was Italy. Italy was just some part of a empire and afterwards, they were an independent country.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar led many of the south American countries to their revolutions and led them to their victory. He is known as the South American liberator.Simon Bolivar would travel from Venezula to the United States to see the government since America was no longer in control by Great Britian. He saw that the government was great and they were doing fine. Then Caracas started a revolution with Spain and he had to go over to help. When he came back he was in favor of started a revolution.

He helped Venezula start a revolution and helped them win their independence in 1821. He also helped Ecuador, Columbia , Panama, and Peru win their independence. This is why he is so famous, what he is mostly known for. He helped most South American counrties fight for their independence. His influence to start the revolutions was the fact that he believed that Latin American countries shouldnt be ruled with another counrty half way around the world. He has a country named after him because of all the hard work he has done and with Peru. They decided to make part of Peru named Bolivia.

John Locke and "The Enlightment"

The rights that Thomas Jeffereson was talking about is that all men (people) are created equal. No one person is greater than the other person. People are equal in power as well as politically because anyone and everyone could vote and run for the government. According to the Declaration of Independence, the government comes from the people. The people have the power to overthrow the government if they dont agree with it. The government is used to protect the peoples rights.
People must have a valid reason in order to overthrow the government. They cant just go against the government for no reason. The government must be unfair and abusive to its people in order to rebel against their government.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

Heliocentrism is a theory that stated that the sun was the center of the universe. Heliocentrism was the opposite of what the geocentric theory stated. Nicholaus Copernicus is the scientist that later on proved this theory to be true. He was the first scientist that showed a mathematical model of this theory. This theory was brought up as people were noticing the motions of the planet earth and the sun. Later on these motions were studied more carefully amd which is when the theory of heliocentrism was borned. Lots of scientist around the world were studying the motions of the sun.

Geocentrism is another theory about the solar system. As stated before, it was the opposite of what the geocentric theory stated. The geocentrism theory states that the earth was the center of the universe. Scientist before saw that the moon rotated around the sun. So since the moon rotated around the earth, everything in the solar system must rotate around the earth too. Although the geocentric theory was out first, it is not true. Heliocentrism was based on the scientific revloution.

Galileo was put on trial by the catholic church for stating in a book that the earth was not the center of the universe. The church believed that the earth was the center of the universe while Galileo thought that the planets revolved around the sun. He did some researc through a telescope and was going against what the church believed.

Scientific Revolution:The Scientific Method

The scientific method is a method used by scientists everywhere. This method consists of making a hypothesis, making an experiment, writing down your observations, and a conclusion. It is a good way to keep track of your data and see what you did wrong and what you can do next time to make it better. Scientific methods can be used to prove a theory wrong. Making a hypothesis is a scientists way to make an educated guess. Then the scientist must make an experiment based on the hypothesis that they had made. During the experiment, they must take notes on what is happening also know as data. After that they write a conclusion on what happened.

Evolution vs. Creation

The Theory of evolution is that we all came from one species. For example, people believe that we came from the ape and as time passed the ape had transformed into a human. Darwin's theory of evolution is said that all ancestors are related in one way or another. He stated this because of his research in the galapolos Islands. He noticed that the finches were are similiar but different based on where they lived.

Creationism is based on a religion. This states that God madethe world and also made human beings. This story is said in the bible in the old testament the book of genesis. God made the land, water and this whole entire world. He also made man and woman which he named Adam and Eve.
I believe in Creationism more than the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution doesnt make sense because it would take a really long time and also if the apes changed doesnt that mean that we would have to change too? Wouldnt the cycle just continue on? Creationism makes more sense because you have a creator and the world would continue on in its regular cycle.