Opium Wars. Emperialism in China

Tyhe Opium Wars were a series of wars between China and Several Western nations, England. These wars started for the desire to trade in China. When Great Britain got control over India, they created a monopoly over the amount of opium that was produced, they used this highly addictive narcotic in order to get what they wanted, a steady source od Chinese goods. During the Opium wars, Chinese government strictly banned the opium trade and when they received it at their port, they would destroy most of it. This was the excuse to start the first Opium War. The British went into the coastal towns with gunships and soldiers. The Chinese were forced to surrender to the British and were forced to the Treaty of Nanjing, gaining territory of Hong Kong and some other favorable trade terms. These wars were called the Opium wars because the British forced in the opium into China in order to trade for tea, since it was in such a high demand by that time. The British won the war since the British had more guns and more technology in weapon means.

Film Lesson: Mountains Of The Moon

In "Mountains of the Moon," some of the hardships that the Europeans faced when expl,oring Africa were the fact that they didn't know all of the land in Africa and they also ran out of weapons, food, and fresh water. It is strange that the source of the Nile River (Lake Victoria) is named after a Britsh Queen because they named an African Lake, a lake that was technically "owned" by the Africans and Africans already knew it existed(so they can't say they discovered it) to be named after a British queen. The primary tachnilogical advantage that the Europeans had over Africa were the weapons and the cure that was found for Maleria. The Europeans were able to conquer Africa so easily because since the Europeans had so many powerful and advanced, in technological means, the weapons that the Africans had were no match for the Europeans.

Imperialism Project

We did the Imperialism project to understand more in depth how imperialism works. I learned that imperialism is based on countries going to other countries to try to take over the land or maybe the resources the country has or to change the form of government they have. For example, the war in Iraq, the war is already won but the American Government wants them to change their government so they can also benefit from the petroleum that is found in the Middle East. remember about the project that Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and Great Britain were the ones that had a lot of control over South America, India, North America, parts of Russia, and a few other places.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx came up with the idea of communism during the Industrial Revolution and his goal was to change the fact that workers being controlled by religion. All they did was share their incomes equally among eachother. Karl Mrax wanted commenism to take over the world because he believed that the only thing the Industrial Revolution did was make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Communism was also based on that the wealth was distributed based on ones abilities and ones need. Karl Marx saw the workers as the "good guys" and the business/factory owners as the "bad guys". He felt that the factory owners would take advantage of the workers and still get all the money and power.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

I believe that Kral Marx did not like the Industrial Revolution because for this reason some people were gaining more power than others. He believed that people should all have the same power and prperty, that they should all share their wealth. I think the Industrial Revolution influenced him to invent communism because he saw how the boss's had more power had more power than the workers. He believed this wasnt fair.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy.

Nationalism is when you proudly represent your country, you fight for it if you have to. I know that a am a nationalist because in one of my windows at my house, i have the Colombian flag, and i also wear shirt or bags that say "I Love Colombia". I also proudly tell people i am Colombian and if someone tries to insult it or say something bad about it, i am the first one at it defending my country.

Simon Bolivar and the American Revolution

Simon Bolivar is so famous because of the fact that he got most of South America's and Central America's(Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Panama, Bolivia and Ecuador) independence from Spain. He organized and led military forces in order to achieve his goal, South America's independence. There is a country named after him to honor his accomplishments, Bolivia was Peru's upper territory but it became a seperate state in his honor. He helped them defeat Spain and Spanish Monarchy to get each countrie's independence/freedom. When his wife died after arriving in Venezuela from Spain, Bolivar went back to Spain to keep on studying. He started studying about the Enlightement thinkers and the philosophes of Locke, Rosseau, and Voltaire, which helped him realize that South America needed freeom from Spain. While being in Italy and France, he heared about their revolution and victory. Then, he traveled accross the ocean to the United States and heared about their revolution from Great Britain which influenced him in his quest for revolution.