Opium Wars Imperialism and China

The Opium wars were one of the very first and biggest drug war in the world. There were two Opium Wars. The war lasted from 1839 top 1842.The main reason why the Opium Wars began was because of opium. Opium is a drug that comes from the juice of poppy seedpods. It could also be used form making heroine. Tea was very popular in Europe and the place where the British got their tea from was from China. China only had one place for the British to trade with which was the Canton port. The British always bought tea from the Chinese, but they now wanted to sell things to China. So to even out things the Bristish introduced the drug, opium, to the Chinese people. The British got opium from India. Opium was first used as a medical drug in China. It was used to treat some diseases like diarhhea. It was also used for making people more active and for sex. Later on, the British taught the Chinese that they could smoke opium by mixing it with tobacco. In the 18th centry the Chinese started to abuse and get addicted to opium. So much people were getting addicted to opium that 10% of the Chinese people smoking opium. This lead to the many deaths of the Chinese people. Emperor Daoguang then chose Lin Tse-Hsua to create an anti-opium campaign. it was to stop the use of opium activity like the use, selling, buying, and importing of opium. Chests of Opium were destroyed and thrown away. The use of Opium was also considered illegal. Users of opium would be executed. A letter was also sent to the Queen of England. However, the letter was unable to reach the queen becuase the messenger was killed. The first opium war started in November, 1839 because the British took over Hong Kong. The Chinese lost the first war becuase the were behind when it came to technology. As a result the Chinese were forced to sign the Treay of Nanjing. This was the end of the first Opium War. Another Opium War was caused becuase of the violation of a few treaties. After that war the Chinese signed the Treaty of Tiangin. The treaties were eventually abolished when communism came in to China.

Mountains of the Moon

So this movie was about two men, Richerd Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke, having an expidition in Africa. This was part of European imperialism. Their job was to map out the inside of Africa and find the source of the Nile River. If they were able to map out Africa Europe would be able take over Africa and take its resources. To do this they needed help from a lot of men. Their first expisition wasn't that succesful. They were attacked by the natives and they weren't prepared for the conditions of Africa. Burton got a big spear punctured through his lower face. He didn't die becuase of the spear. They also didn't have enough ammunition to defend themselves. They then went back to England. They were able to map very little of Africa, and they still haven't found the source of the Nile River. Once again, Burton and Spekes went back to Africa to get the job done. This time they had more men, slaves, and supplies. They were more prepared this time. They experience a lot of hard times during the second expedition. On one part of the movie Burton and his men encountered very dangerous animals. With the smarts of Burton his men were able to get through some tigers, and with the gun skills of Speke Burton's life was saved from being attacked by a lion. Like before, Burton and Speke encountered natives. Since they had a lot of supplies Burton's men were able to trade with the natives. They even faced big problems caused by small things. One problem was when a beetle went inside of Spekes ear. Another problem is when Burton had a dieseas in his legs which made him unable to walk. They then found a river, but they weren't sure if it was the source of the Nile River. So then the kept venturing and they found another river. Speke thought it was the source of the Nile River, but Burton didn't agree with Speke becuase there was no measurements or any sort of that. Speke named the lake Lake Victoria after the Queen of England. It's weird becuase the lake is in Africa and named after a white person. The technological advantage the Europeans had was their guns. Eventually the Europeans took over Africa becuase they improved their guns and mad machine guns.

Imerialism Project

In Mr. Moloney's class I did the imperialism project with the class becuase it was a good way to learn how Europe tried to conquer the whole world. In this project we learned that Europe traveled around the world to find spices since spices were very important in Europe. The Europeans traded spices with the spice islands in Indonesia. So while the Europeans tried to find spices, they accidentaly discovered the New World. They arrived at the Carribeans. In the New World they got more resources like gold, silver, and cotton.Later on European nations competed to control other parts of the world. They also started trading with other nations. The Europeans started trading for slaves from Africa to work in the New World so that more cotton would be produced. The Europeans also wanted to trade with the Chinese. The Chiniese didn't allow them. So what the Europeans did is they gave the Chinese opium from India. When the Chinese got addicted to the drug China allowed the Europeans to trade with them.

Karl Marx #2

Karl Marx's idea of Communism was to make the poor people dominate their master and take over. 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. He wanted everything to be the same so people would be treated fairly which meant there was going to be a classless society. Karl Marx saw the owners or the rich people the bad guys becuase they were the cause that the workers were living in poverty. Workers weren't paid that much compared to the owners of factories or other businesses. He saw the workers and poor people as the good guys. Karl Marx himself was also living in poverty.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a Jewish german man who converted to Christianity. Karl was born in Trier. His dad forced the family to become Christian so they could get a job. Karl never believed in God In Karl's other days when he wasstill young, he was a succesful lawyer. He was the man who created the government system, Communism. How did he develope communism? One of the reasons was the Industrial Revolution. He was totally against the Industrial Revolution. He was sick and tired of the way workers we treated and the thing that children were working in the factories. He wante the people in the factories to be treated fairly and repected. After he died, he ideas and ways were known as Marxism. His ideas influenced a lot of people and even influence nations. These ideas then evolved into communism. So because of the Industrial Revolution Marxism became very popular with nations like China and Russia. Communism overthrowed some governments, and till today communism still exists.

Nationalism

Nationalism is when people decide not to be ruled by a monarchy. The poeple place there loyalty to the culture they are living by. Nationalism is a new thing of America. Years ago people never had there own flags. One example of me being nationalistic is by remembering and reciting the American pledge. I am nationalsitic by living the American way like eating burgurs, using dollars, and using jeans.

Itlay is a nation formed by nationalism. Before Italy became Italy it was first ruled by Austria. In the early and middle years of the 1800's Italians started to disobey the rule that they should be loyal to the king or ruler. Some revolts broke out, but some of them failed. A man named Cavour helped unite Italy. He won several battles, and he also helped nationalistic rebels win. He was able to drive Austrian forces away in order to take over territory. So Cavour was an important person in history for uniting Italy as a nation.

Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar was one of the very important people of history. He had Creole parents, and he was born at July 24, 1783 at Caracas, Venezuela. His full name is Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad Bolivar. As a child, Simon was very well educated by his tutors.  His parents died when Simon was eight years old. As he grew up he married a Spanish woman named Maria Teresa Rodriguez. His wife died when the came back to Venezuela. After that he went to Europe and studied a bit more. Simon also went to America to study. He had learned about the Enlightenment thinkers, and the revolutions in France and America.  When he came back to Venezuela he thought it was time that Latin America should be liberated from Spain.

Simon won his first battle by joining forces with Fransisco de Miranda at Valencia. Bolivar lost some battles and had to run away. Bolivar then won other battles. There was one time he joined forces with New Granada. He and New Granada were able to win Caracas back in Venezuela. Bolivar had to flee again and came back with more support.  He then won the Battle of Boyaca. Simon lost a few battles, but he won some too.  On December 17, 1830 Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis. 

So Simon Bolivar is very famous because he helped liberate many countries from Spain.  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 Thomas Jefferson

The rights that Jefferson was talking about are life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness. He said that people were created equal by God. Rights were given to people by God. To have these rights protected and maintained governments are formed. The government gets its power from the people that the government governs. That type of government is a democracy. I think that democracy is the best froms of government becuase people like it.

If the people dislike the government, they can try to make another government. First they would have to overthrow the present government. The would need enough people to revolt against the government to form a revolution. The owrd Revolution means change. It doesn't always have to deal with war.

The Solar System: Geocentric and Heliocentric

There are two types of explanation of the solar system: Geocentric and Heliocentric. Geocentric came before Heliocentric.The geocentric explanation of the solar system is that the Earth was the center of everything, and everything else revolves around it. Back in the day, this idea was popular among the Greeks and the Chinese. Philosophers also thought that the stars, sun, and planets circled the Earth in a perfectly circle motion.




The heliocentrism explanation of the solar system is that the Sun is the center of everything, and all the other planets revolve around it. The planets that circle the Sun circle the sun an an elliptical shape. Heliocentrism is the only correct explanation of our solar system. Nicoluas Copernicus mathematically proved the heliocentrism explanation of the solar system right. Johaness Kepler helped expand this idea. Heliocentrism was developed by the scientific revolution. Very religious people, like the Catholics, were strongly against this theory becuase it conflicted with their religion. Today, almost everyone accepts this theory.


Galilieo was an astronomer, mathematitian, philisopher, and a physicyst. He was one of the people who helped in the Scientific Revolution. He was put on trial becuase he believed Earth was not the center of the universe. The Catholic Church disbelieved that the Earth was not the center of the univierse. That is why Galileo was put on trial. Galileo was then punished, but he wasn't put to death.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The scientific method is a series of steps that scientists use to solve a problem. It would be an experiment. To do the first steps of the scientific method, you would first need to identify the problem by observing things. You would have to observe very carefully. You would then make a statement of what you think what would happen. That would be your hypothesis. The you test your hypothesis to see if its correct. If your hypothesis isn't correct, then you have to change the hypothesis and execute another experiment. You will have to keep on experimenting until you have a conclusion that is right. After that, your problem is solved, and that is the scientific method of solving problems.

One example of someone using the scientific method is Galileo. Galilea was an Italian. He was testing Aristotle's theory that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter object. Galileo proved Aristotle wrong. He dropped a heavy and light ball from the leaning Tower of Pisa. When he performed the experiment, both the heavy and light balls fell on the ground at the same time.

Evolution VS Creation

If someone were to ask me if I believed in evolution or creation, it would be creation. Why? It's because I'm Roman Catholic, and creation is part of my belief. I have been a Roman Catholic since I was Baptised a baby. My parents are Roman Catholic too. Most of my friends are also Roman Catholic. Here are some other reasons why I believe in creation.

I believe in creation not just because God is God. It's because God has created everything we know, see, and cannot see in this world. He is the Creator and the very source of this world. God created the world in seven days. Scientists wouldn't believe that, but God can do anything. No matter what I always need to have faith in my religion. Science cannot explain ethics. God created animals the way He wanted to. So I am on the side of creation.

In my religion it says that God says "Let there be light." Who knows? Maybe that light could have been the Big Bang. So I partially believe part of evolution. Maybe God made animals back then that were meant to evolve to the animals of today. So basically I believe both sides, but I'm more on the side of creation since my God is the source of everything in this world.