Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium Wars was a drug war. This was a war over Opium and that is why this was called the Opium War. Opium is made of juice, seedpods, and to produce heroin. There was a couple of the Opium War. In the first Opium War close to 2 million pounds of Opium was sold in China. 10% of the Chinese were smoking Opium.

The second war happened because there was a dispute over treaties and boarding British Ship Arrow. The second Opium War was also known as the Lorcha Arrow War. China loss the war. This was because were forced to reaffirm the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin. Britain was the victor of this war.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In the film "Mountains of the Moon" there were plenty hardships. One of the first hardships was the explorers being attacked by an African tribe. The explorers suffered bad injuries from this attack. Another hardship was people dying from miliaria, while searching for lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is named after the British Queen. This is strange because the lake is in Africa, so you may think it will have an African name.

The Europeans had technology advantages over the Africans. They had thermometers, microscopes, and even clothes the Africans have not seen yet. The most primary technology they had over the Africans was the gun. The Africans were afraid and amazed at the gun when they first saw it. The main reason Europeans were able to conquer Africa so easily was because they had machine guns that has a major advantage over the spear or shied.

Imperialism Project

In global class we did an imperialism project. We did this project to see how things has changed over time. I have learned that many countries conquered each others in order to get resources that they do not have. They used these resources to produce goods and sell to make money. I have learned that many countries have plenty resources others do not.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx is a person who believed in communism. His idea of communism was for all workers to get the same amount of pay. What he meant by that was even workers who worked less than workers who worked the most will get the same pay. Marx wanted communism to take over the world so everyone will be equal. He wanted there to be no superior or inferior.

When Karl Marx came up with this idea of communism, he saw good guys and bad guys. The good guys in his eyes were the workers. The bad guys to him was the owners. I suppose he thought this way because owners may often do less work and make more money. He thought this was a bad idea. This is why he loves the idea of communism.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a person who disliked the idea of the industrial revolution. He had an idea that workers should control the factories. He thought the workers were being treated harshly and unfairly. Thats the reason why he thought the industrial revolution needed a change. These circumstances led him to invent communism.

When Karl Marx referred to communism he meant that all workers shared the wealth. He did not want for people to get more money or less money than others. Although communism sounded like a good idea there could be negative effects. Karl Marx wanted equality among all the workers of the revolution. He just wanted the workers not to have harsh and unfair workdays.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is a sense of identity with the nation. I show my nationalism by calling myself an American. By me speaking english shows that I am indeed nationalistic. When people say the pledge of alligence that shows that they are nationalistic. When people join the American army that shows that they are nationalistic. That is how nationalism is shown.

Nationalism was used to create the nation Italy by its loyal people. The people who lived within Italy believed that the nation-state was the best hope for social justice and democracy. This is what helped encourage to make the country Italy. Before Italy, people Austria use to rule the Kingdom of Two Siliclies. As time went on the Italians became no longer content to live under foreign rulers. The Italians nationalism started to grow and soon Italians started to unite, then take over what is now today called Italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Latin America had a revolution against Spanish control on them. This happened after both the French and American revolution. One of the people controlling some parts of Latin America was Napolean's French brother. Latin America did not want a French leader. So they came up with an idea to get their independence. One of the people helped with this goal was Simon Bolivar.

Simon Bolivar was an impirtant part of the Latin American Revolution. Simon Bolivar is famous for being the liberator of the Latin American revolution. After being inspired by the American and French revolution, he led the military in order to break the Spanish's control on the northern part of South America. He helped defeat the Spanish so South American countries can be free. Simon Bolivar's actions helped give independence to Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and another country named after him (to honor his accomplishments) called Bolivia.

The Enlightenment

The enlightenment is an idea of making an government where people can have equal rights and have a say in who the leader will be. Before the enlightenment, there were rulers known as kings and queens. The kings would be chosen within one family, when the current king passed. The kings would have sons and brothers. When that king dies the son or brotheer would take the place as the new king. That system was unfair to others.

The idea of Monarchs and kings started to change when thinkers like John Locke started influencing people. He thought of a world where people would govern themselves and not be ruled and told to do by kings. John Locke thought people had three natural rights. Those rights were life liberty, and property. Soon the citizens overthrown the kings and set up there own governments.

Later the idea of John Locke would be used by Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson used his idea and put it in the Declaration of Idependence. In the second paragraph John Locke's idea was placed. Thomas Jefferson rephrased the saying though. The saying was: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That was a great effect of the enlightenment.

Copernicus and the trial of Galileo

The geocentric theory was replaced by the heliocentric theory which was the idea that earth is one of the many planets that orbits the sun. The geocentric theory was the idea that the earth was placed at the center of the solar system, and that the sun orbited it. This theory came out of the scientific revolution. In the middle ages the geocentric theory was believed to be the correct theory. Later on it was proven that it was not the correct theory, and that heliocentric theory was the correct one.

The trial of Galileo was about this guy named Galileo Galilei who was a scientist that said the earth revolves around the sun. The Catholic Church put him on trial because his statement disagreed with theirs. Soon they put him on house-arrest. In 1638 he was able to move to Florence. He would continue to teach and write even though he had been blind. Galileo Galilei died in 1642. His theory was later proven to be correct.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

Before present day people had different ways of thinking about science. Around the 1500's people looked to things such as the bible, and anicient Greek to come up with their hypothesis about the universe and science. People who believed in Christianity and the ancient Greeks taught others about what they thought without the scientific method we have today. The scientific method is experimenting repeatedly to find the truth of an experiment. That is what the scientist in today's time is doing now.

For example, at one point in time it was believed that the earth was flat. People thought once you got to the edge of the earth you would fall off into space. For a while that was an untested theory. After awhile scientist started testing that theory. They found out after research a tests that the world was indeed round and not flat. When you came to the end you would not fall off because of gravity. Theories were tested more and more to find out it was true or false. That is why the scientific method is a big part of the scientific revolution.

Evolution Vs Creation

Darwin's theory of evolution was an basic idea that species changed overtime from a common ancestor. These evolutions was a random change in genetic mutations. These mutations basically changed different things about the organisms. The mutations had to do with being preserved for survival, or also known as natural selection. Darwin's theory was believed that organisms such as bananas, birds, fish, and flowers was apart of the common ancestors. This was Darwin's theory of evolution.

Creation is apart of religious belief. Creation is believing that God created the oragnisms. It is said that the whole universe was created in 7 days. In creation there was no humans, or animals before God created them. It is a religious thing because you have to believe in God before you can believe in this.

I believe in creation because I think that there was not a human, a ape, a bird, and so on from the beginning of time. I think at one point there was something that happened that created each of these organisms. I don't belive that apes evolved into humans. I also don't believe humans devolved into an ape. I believe changes that happened to each organism was not evoloution, but adaptation. That is my thought of evolution and creation.