Opium Wars- Imperialism in China

Opium is a highly-addictive drug given to the Chinese. It was grown in the East Indies. The British traded Opium to the Chinese for tea. It was used for medicine but the Chinese got addicted to it. In 1838, the Chinese government told the british to not to trade anymore opium because it was highly addictive. In 1840, the Chinese went into war with the British but the British won becaue they had better weapons and more technology. So it was called the Opium Wars because the British and the Chinese were fighting over wheather or not to keep trading opium. Chinese were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which allows the British to trade in ports around China, including Hong Kong. In 1843, they signed the Treaty of the Bogue. It states that the Chinese were responsible for destroying quantities of opium in the sea during an anti-opium campaign. Unfourtunately, in 1856, the Second Opium War began due to an argument over the treaties. Once again, the British won and made the Chinese sign the Treaty of Tianjin, which opens up 11 additional ports in China.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

They had to go through different areas that they did know about. They had to face different tribes attacks or had to try to make peace. They also had to worry about diseases like maleria and contaminated water. The source of the Nile, Lake Victoria, was named after the British Queen because they decided to name it that way since they discovered it. Europeans had technological advanteges becauyse they had guns and evetually had a cure to maleria. The europeans were able to go through Africa easily because they eventually had machine guns that could fire bullets in a fast rate. The African people only had spears and wooden shields to defend themselves.

Karl Marx and Communism

He thought that workers should be paid the same amount of money. That means if you work as a business man, and you live in a communist country, then you would get paid the same amount of money as someone working as a cashier. 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. Communism is the government system in which the government controls everything and people are paid the same money. Karl Marx wanted Communism to take over the world becuase he didn't like the fact that the workers were looked down upon their masters. He didn't like the fact that workers were getting poorer and the owners were getting richer, and that wasn't fair.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx did not like the Idustrial Revolution becuase he thought that workers should have the same rights as there bosses. Karl Marx also didnt like the fact that the Idustries paid people different so it would dicide if there rich or poor. He belived that people should control the government. Karl got inspired by the Industrial Revolution to invent communism because he saw that captilism would soon cause destruction.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is the people's loyalty to sharing a common language or culture and not to a king or queen. Some examples that show that people are nationalistic is that we share that same the same language in out country, we celebrate the same holidays and we have the same currency. We celebrate our independence day, July 4, and share the same language.

In Italy, nationalism grew out of the French Revolution. Italy used to be part of the Austria-Hungary empire. Italy got influenced by other country's that declared independence. When Italy declared their independence, they had a war of independence. Italy was then formed by nationalism and made their own flag. Covour helped fight many battles for Italy to get rid of the Austrian forces and take their territory back.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

He got independence by organizing a small group of followers to defeat the Spanish. He defeated them with surprise attacks and wise decision in battle. He had Creole parents, and he was born at July 24, 1783 at Caracas, Venezuela. Simon went to Europe and America to study their form of government. He had learned about the Enlightenment thinkers, and the revolutions in France and America. 

Simon and Fransisco de Miranda both won a battle at Valencia. On December 17, 1830 Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis. He was famous because he helped liberate many countries in South America. The country Bolivia is named after Bolivar because he helped liberate Bolivia.  He helped others defeat the spanish forces in Latin America so he can liberate the countries under them. The Enlightenment thinkers, John Locke, and the revolutions on France and America influenced him to lead the revolution.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men, as in people, are born equal and that no one was greater than another. We all had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is why the people created a government to protect these rights.The government comes from the people. If the people do not agree with the government they can overthrow it. The government gets its power from the people.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

The geocentric explanation of the solar system is that the Earth was the center of everything, and everything else revolves around it. Back then the Greeks and Chinese believed in this. Philosophers also thought that all the planets, stars, and the sun revolved around the Earth in circular motions.

The heliocentrism said that the Sun is the center of everything, and all the other planets revolve around it. The Heliocentric theory is the only correct explanation of our solar system. Nicoluas Copernicus mathematically proved the heliocentric theory. Johaness Kepler expanded more about this idea by using a telescope. People that believed in a God were against this idea because it went against of what they use to believe. Today everyone believes in this because people have created stronger telescopes and have went into space to prove this.

The trial of Galileo was were they argued about whether to believe in the scientific teaching or the Holy Bible. Galileo stated in a book that the earth was not the center of the universe so he was put to trial by the catholic church. The church believed in the geocentric theory while Galileo believed in the heliocentric theory. Galileo used a telescope to prove that the earth revolved around the sun.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The scientific revolution was when scientist started to experiment the theories people had of how earth started and came from. They called it the scientific method because they experimented over and over to prove or disprove the idea. An example was "Aristotle had a theory that heavy objects fell faster than lighter objects." Then they did a test and said that objects of different weights fall at the same speed and proved Aristotle wrong. Then another scientist called Isaac Newton and explained the laws of gravity proving Aristotle wrong again. He said that there was a universal law of gravitation that applied equally to earth and the heavens.
The example a young Italian named Galileo was that he test the theory that heavy objects fell faster then lighter objects. Legends say that he went up to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and dropped stones of different weights. He proved Aristotle wrong by showing that objects of different weights fall at the same speed. For example if you drop a bowling ball and a baseball at the same time they will fall at the same speed.

Evolution vs Creation

Darwin's Theory says that everything from life is related and decended from their ancesters. He said that we all came from animals because of natural selection, which is when we slowly gain an ability like wings to fly to survive the changes. He says that over a long period of time many organisms evolved since the world changed and became very different than what they were back then.

Creationism is the belief that all of us were created by supernatural being or beings. It is the religious beliefs that the universe was created by God. All over the world people have believed in creationism which is believing in a religion like Christianity. Many scientist say that there is no supernatural being that could have created it and that there all just beliefs. Creationism is beliefs of being a God that made everything and there was a book, the bible, that state it.

I believe in creationism because I think that someone or something had to start the universe and earth. Unlike evolution, creationism believes that It all started with one man and one women that made all of us. Evolution thinks that we evolved from primates and that we just are the evolved version of them from thousands of years. But I am religious and i believe that there was a supernatural being that created the universe, earth, and started life.