Friday, December 18, 2009

Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Introduction of the Opium Wars started when Britian attempted to trade Tea with China. Since China were Isonalists, they weren't too fond of Trading with others or being around other people. Thinking very clever, the British started giving a drug called Opium to China. Opium was a very addictive to the Chinese. After numerous amount of Opium given by the British, Britian finally stopped supplying China with Opium. Britian then made an agreement with China. When China traded Tea with Britian, then Opium will be supplied in China once again. However the Chinese weren't too fond of this.

This event lead to the Opium Wars. It was Britian's destiny to get Tea from China. Since Tea didn't grow in Britian much, the Brtish needed China's Tea. In the Opium War, there were numerous back to back attacks from China and Britian. However at the end, Britian was successful.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In the movie, "Mountains of the Moon", Europeans faced numerous Hardships. Some hardships were Milleria, running into a "crazy" African Tribes, Several Days of Bad Hyigene, Little Amount of Water, and many more. However, these Hardships still encouarged the European Explorers to find the sources of the Nile River. When the European Explorers John Speke and Richard Burton discovered the source of the Nile River, they were really proud. Speke and Burton then named the lake, Lake Victoria after the Queen of England. It's strange that the Lake is named Victoria because the Lake was found in Africa. Victoria was a Queen in England not Africa. To my opinion it doesn't make sense to name a Lake after a white lady in a Continent where most of the population is Black.

Europeans was technogically more advanced than Africans, hence the reason why they were able to conquer Africa with ease. The machine - powered weapons really assisted he Europeans. Africans weren't really exposed much to Guns. So when Europeans and Africans would clash, Africans would die with ease and their land would be Europe's now.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Imperialism Project

We did the Imperialism Project to get a better understanding of Imperialism. Many students don't actually know what the word Imperialism mean. So this project was a way for students to know more. When we had to color in land, add symbols (such as spices and gold) and draw shipping routes, we got a better understanding of Imperialism.