Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium War began in China, the British wanted China's tea but they didn't want to trade with the British. The British found something that was addicting and knew the Chinese wouldn't get tired of getting. Opium was what the Chinese wanted and the English had it. Opium was very addicting to anyone but since the British were the ones trading it with the China and for them to get Opium they had to trade tea. Soon the government of China didn't like the idea of trading tea for Opium. The government told everyone he would have the person who gets opium from the British would be killed. China also only had one port for the British to come through and even if it wasn't easy for them they still wanted to tea and went threw that port to get their tea. The British used war to get what they wanted. They had very god technology and used their advanced technology to fight against China and won. They made China sign the "Treaty of Nanjing" which allowed the British to come into China in any port they wanted to get the tea. The Chinese didn't want that so asked for another war and once again lost. Which gave the British more power.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

Mountain of the Moon was a meaningful movie, it showed that it wasn't easy to go across Africa without getting into a problem. When John Speke and Richard Burton went to Africa for the first time their journey didn't come out as planed. They both got hurt but didn't give up, Richard and John both went to Africa again to find the Nile River. This time they brought much more supplies from Europe for their journey. Also had more men from Africa to travel with them. The journey to find the Nile River wasn't easy people got hurt or have gotten a disease. When John and Richard were on their journey with their men they would meet up with other Native Africans who never saw a white person. To them John and Richard were something unusual but if Richard or John wouldn't trade with the tribe the tribe would kill them. John had gotten beetle in his ear and Richard couldn't walk because of something with his foot. After Richard wasn't able to walk anymore the have found Lake Victoria and thought it was the Nile River until they realized it wasn't.

Lake Victoria was named after the British Queen, this is strange because the lake has always been there and people were living there. The lake wasn't named after the queen of Africa or no one from Africa. Africans weren't able to change the name because the Europeans were much superior. The primary technological advantage that Europeans had over African people were mostly the guns because Africans have never seen a gun before. In the movie the king of the Native Africans was shocked and amused of the gun Richard had shown him. The gun gave the king much more power and people were terrified of getting next to him. The gun would easily beat the spears the Africans had. Since Europeans also the machine gun and much better people to fight against Africa and were able to find a cure to the disease in Africa. With all the things England had they were able to conquer Africa easily.

Imperialism Project

We did the Imperialism Project to learn on how during the European Imperialism people have traveled the seas to get raw materials from other countries. I learned that everyone traded in that period and to trade they had to travel in ships. Not everyone would come back a live though a few would survive their journey. One person that went on a journey to find an easier way to get spices from India was Christopher Columbus. They would go to India to get spices, cotton and opium but spices was important for Europeans. Instead of ending up in India Christopher Columbus ended in America what he called the New World. Finding the New World was better because now Europe was earning more money with the crops they grew in the New World. Much has been traded during the European Imperialism, Europeans have traveled traded and gain many raw material from other continents.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism was the idea of Karl Marx who didn't like the idea of Industrial Revolution so he created Communism everywhere. Karl Marx thought this was a better idea and better way for the society. He thought that people weren't getting enough pay. Communism gave everyone the same pay no matter what job they had. By doing this he wanted everyone to be even, nobody could own their own land or property.
Some people liked this idea and other didn't. Communism helped mostly the people who weren't getting the right pay and who deserved a better one. In the Industrial Revolution the workers would work hard but the owners would get a better pay. He wanted this idea to spread for everything to be better for the workers. Karl Marx believed that the workers were the good guys because they worked hard for little pay. While the bad guys were the ones who owned the factories. Karl Marx believed this because the owners took charge and didn't work as hard but still got paid more. Karl Marx idea for Communism is still going on till this day in some countries. It did work out fine for some countries but not all.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx felt that the Industrial Revolution wasn't a great idea. He did not like the way the workers were being treated and how the factories were unsafe. Karl Marx did not support the Industrial Revolution at all. Since the factories were all unsafe and harsh, Marx fought to get the right for workers to be the ones to control the factories not the landlords. Karl Marx wanted the Industrial Revolution to work in a whole different way but what he wanted more was for it to be safe at least. Karl Marx also didn't like the idea of children working in the factories with them getting no breaks. While the children should be getting an education they are at factories that weren't safe and working. Also while working so many hours they didn't get payed much. The landlords got all the luxury while the people who worked hard and many hours didn't, which wasn't fair. Karl Marx didn't like this anymore and invented Communism. Where everyone would share the money that was being earned. They would all earn the same no matter what their job was and Karl Marx thought that was a better way to have the society going. Karl Marx had his own idea and opinion like everyone else. There were some that agreed and some that didn't, Karl Marx was one that did not agree and made Communism.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is when someone belief of their greatest loyalty shouldn't be to a king or empire, they should all share the same culture and history. Some examples to show that people are nationalistic are that we all have the celebrate same holidays. Like the 4th of July is only in the United States no other country has that independence day we also celebrate more like president day when we vote for a president also Memorial and Labor Day. Another example would be the type of money we use, the untied states bills and the language we have our language is English but we all speak it with an accent. To show I am nationalistic I speak English, use the u.s.a money everyday and celebrate the holidays we have.
The nationalism of Italy was created because of the French Revolution this helped them get more influenced about independence and rights. Before Italy became Italy was part of Austria-Hungary Empire. Austria-Hungary Empire lost its name to become Italy was because when Italy declared their independence a war has started over their Independence and had won the war and got their own flag of Italy. They had named their nation and Austria-Hungary Empire broke down. Nationalism had helped Italy get their independence.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was the liberator of South America and got their independence. Simon Bolivar was the one who had free Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador,Peru and Bolivia from having an unfair government. Simon wasn't the type to take advantage of his power he helped the Latin Americans get their freedom from Spain. He had learned about these independence from the countries he had visited. While learning about these governments and equal rights from the Enlightenment Thinkers, he and united also motivated groups of people to get these rights. He had given these countries their Independence by noticing how the American and French had a Revolution and got the Independence they wanted. To get their Independence they had to defeat the Spanish which was lead by a French king, King Joesph.

Simon Bolivar had won and gotten the freedom for these countries, he had ideas of what he was doing and didn't just go ahead and fought without idea of what he was fighting for. There is this one country names Bolivia which is named after Simon Bolivar. They had named Bolivia after him in honor of his success for defeating the Spanish army in Peru. After defeating the Spanish the upper congress of Peru decided to name that territory Bolivia in honor of Simon Bolivar. No one has forgotten about Simon Bolivar and how he fought for the Latin Americans to get their Independence. He has made history and is still being taught to others for his history not to be forgotten. Simon Bolivar was a great man, and died strong. He never gave up, was a strong leader.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

There were many people from the enlightenment thinkers. There was this man names John Locke who was very helpful in the enlightenment. Thomas Jefferson was inspired by John Locke and made rights. Jefferson's rights were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those rights weren't bad because they are still working till this very day. The rights are making everything better for everyone. The Democracy is working good and nobody is going against the rights that Jefferson has made. In the democracy there are the president, vice president, governments, and senators.

The government would get its power by the people. The people were the ones who mostly picked the decisions. The government aren't the only ones who makes the decisions they have people who also make the decisions. Its not like how it was when Kings were the only ones in charge. Now its more then no one would have too much power and over rule the land or country. There are people behind and in front, they have decisions now to make a new law or choices to be made. No one have too much power. The Enlightenment Thinkers gave people like Thomas Jefferson the idea to make these changes and make a democracy.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

There are two theories of the solar system, the geocentric and the heliocentric. The geocentric was the first theory that was made where scientist thought that the earth was in the middle of the universe. Everyone thought that the earth was in the middle and other planets revolved around the earth. After 1,800 years the heliocentric theory was opposed to the geocentric theory. The heliocentric theory was said that the earth is not in the middle of the universe that the sun is. All the planets revolve around the sun not the earth. Heliocentric theory is the correct theory because after scientist did more testes about the geocentric theory they notice that the earth is not in the middle. They have figured out that the sun is in the middle.

The Galileo trail was about Galileo proving that the earth is not the center of the universe. He went against the scripture of the bible. He used his telescope to conform that the sun is in the center. Galileo was found guilty and his work was forbidden from being published and others reading his words. The Catholic Church was putting him on trial publishing his book about the sun being in the center. As the Pope Urban had said through his interpretation of the scripture. Galileo believed in the sun being in the center while the church didn't.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The scientific method is more accurate than the scientific revolution. Two scientist proved one scientist because the theory was wrong. Aristotle had a theory where he said that heavy objects fall faster then smaller objects. Galileo tested the theory and found out that the theory was wrong. That you could throw objects of different weights and they would fall at the same speed. Then came Issac Newton who also proved Aristotle's theory wrong. There was proved that Aristotle's theory is wrong, that the bigger object won't drop first.
I believe that the scientific method is true because when test it the theories are true. I believe that while time went on that people got more accurate to anything that was said or beign done in the past. Now people are more sure about stuff then they were before. Like Aristotle who also predicted that men and women have different number of teeth but he didn't even check. That can't be true if he didn't even bother to check. To make it a theory it firsted has to be tested and make sure if its true. Now theories are being tested and are more accurate.

Evolution Vs. Creation

There is evolution and there is creation both with different explanations, but both about how the world was created. Darwin theory of evolution is that he thinks the world was started by apes not by god who created Adam and Eve. Darwin believes that first there were apes and the apes changed and turned into humans like us. That over the hundreds of years that pass we all change, our body changes and convert into something different. While in Creation the explanation is that god created Adam and Eve and they were the ones who started us humans. Before creating Adam and Eve first created the sun, rivers, oceans, trees, etc, then after that Adam was created and after Adam came Eve. Two different stories but still no one knows which one is true.

I believe that god had created this world and made Adam and Eve to start it of. To me creation sounds more reasonable and understanding because the way its told sounds like it happened. I would hear many stories about it from the bible and it would seem true like that's the reason why everyone is created. Even though there are still questions that are yet not answered about where the other people came from after Adam and Eve and how the population grew. Also evolution also makes sense but I believe more in creation, it seems like we could have been made out of apes but then it doesn't. We do see that people change after a long period of time but while thinking about it more the creation makes more sense to me.

Everybody has their own mind, we all think different not everybody opinion is the same. I might think creation was the reason why but others might think it was evolution. There is no real reason of which is true none of the questions are really answered. Creation or evolution I would pick creation. I believe god had created life and humans. Not that apes were the ones who started it all out. Everyone has their own opinion and that's mine.