The Opium Wars

The opium war was an important war. It showed that the europeans got what they wanted when they wanted it. It was also the worlds first drug wars. The British would trade opium with the Chinese for tea. As you know, any drug can be addictive and opium sure was. At first opium used to be a drug used to cure diarihha but then they mixed it with tobacco so they could smoke it. Tea was in high demand and the chinese had it. The chinese were self sufficient and didnt want anything from the Europeans or Americans.

When the British ran out of things to trade, they started to trade opium mixed with tobacco so they could promote smoking. They would bring in nearly 2 million pounds of opium a year. This weakend the chinese population. It even weakend the economy because they were giving away pounds of silver to pay for opium. They tried to ban opium but it didnt work. All the government officials were corrupt and accepted bribes. the Chinese tried everything to stop the british from smuggling opium into the country but nothing worked. The chinese were fed up with this so the opiums wars began.

China was easily defeated because they lacked the technology. Europe was too advanced for them. They made the chinese sign a treaty that was "unequal" and it exploited the chinese resources. The Americans and Fench also made an "unequal" treaty.

Film Lesson "Mountains of the Moon"

This was a good movie. In this movie it showed two Europeans trying to find the source of the Nile river. They had many hardships trying to do this. Their first attempt was not very successful. They were attacked by a local African tribe. While John Speak was out hunting, he was being followed by some of the members. Richard Burton (another explorer) had a spear thrown through his mouth during the ambush. John Speak was captured and then escaped. He found Richard Burton and they escaped and returned to Europe. A couple years later they met back up and decided to go back to Africa again. In this trip there were even more hardships. a lot of there supplies were stolen and they were captured twice. John speaks had a bug go in his ear and killed it by shoving a blade in his ear. Richard Burton was almost killed by a Lion and he had obtained a disease in his leg that made him unable to walk.

They found the source of the Nile and Named it Lake Victoria. The problem was, that they didn't really discover it. The African tribes have been using it way before they came. The main technology advance that the Europeans had over the Africans were there guns. A simple handgun was a great advance. The Europeans were eventually able to capture Africa so easily because they had developed machine guns. They brought machine guns and even more Europeans to conquer Africa.

The meiji Restoration of Japan

Mathew Perry bullied the Japanese to sign the treaty. He came to japan with huge navy ships and advanced technology. The japanese would have no chance if they fought back. So it was either get destroyed or trade with us. The japanese were very impressed with the navy ships. japan's war ships were nothing compared to them. The Economy of Japan went up because of the Americans. The Japanese started to trade with the United states and that brought more money for Japan. They industrialized and modernized because they traded more. They were able to see all the new technology that everyone had. Japan is an archipelago and an archipelago is a chain of islands.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism is when everyone lives in an equal. Everyone has equal pay no matter what job they have. Communism took over the world becuase people thought it would be a good idea. Some people worked hard for little pay and some people did nothing for a lot of pay. People didnt think that was fair so they believed in Karl Marx idea. Karl Marx saw that the working conditions of people were bad. They had to do dnagerous jobs with no sleep and food. He thought that the workers were the "good guys" and the rich people or factory owners were the "bad guys".

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx did not like the Industrial Revolution. He felt that the working conditions in the factories were un safe for the workers. He urged for people all over the world to unite in a big revolution. Marx had his own ideas and his idea was called Communism. Communism is when workers share the wealth in a communist society. He Belelieved that money should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

The Industrial Revolution inspired Marx because he thought the workers were treated unfairly. He thought that the rich got a lot of money for no reason and that the common people got a little bit of money for a lot of work. he didnt think this was fair. He thought that everyone should share money and get equal amounts.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is when you have pride in your country. When you defend your country to the fullest and never dis honor your country. I am Nationalistic For my parents country, Barbados. I love Barbados and go there practically every year. When i go home i listen to the music from my island and talk like people who live there around my family. I have a lot of Bajan clothes including flags, hats, bandannas, wrist bands and even a tie.

Nationalism was used to create Italy. They formed their territory from other crumbling territories. Italy was ruled before it became its own state. They were apart of another country. Italy became Italy because it was united with other countries and made its own.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios y Blanco was a good man. He was a South American general and he won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Colombia, Equidor, Peru and Venesuela. He was born in July 24th 1783, Caracas Venesuela. He has a country named after him because he conquered Peru. Upper Peru became a seperate estate and it was named after him. Somin Bolivar helped defeat the Spaniards and was fighting for Independence. His dream of a united colombia influenced him.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

The reign of terror happened after the French Revolution. It was a period of violence and death for 15 months ( September 5 1793 - July 28 1794). It happened because of a rivalry of politics and 16,000 to 40,000 people died during this period. They used a tool called a guillotine to kill people. The executions happened because the leaders of the reign of terror period used dictator like power to instigate mass executions.

Robespierre was a leader in the Reign of Terror. No one in the government was trusted so everyone was in danger of being sent of the guillotine. He took full control of this reign and he tried to wipe out all of the monarchy leaders. Even the faces on cards, kings, queens and jacks were removed and then replaced with revolutionary faces. Robespierre went mad with power so they created a conspiracy against him and arrested him. They cut off Robespierre head and then appointed a new young leader named Napoleon Bonaparte.

The French Revolution

1) Everyone was critical of the king, noble and clergy because life was easy for them. They didn't have to pay taxes and owned a lot of land.

2) The people would have complained about taxes and dues to the King. They had very little and had to give a lot.

3) This picture is saying that the peasants do all the work and lift the King and nobles and clergy up. They carry the burden of maintaining the feudal lords and clergy. The peasant is on the bottom and the other two are the Clergy and feudal lords. The quote means that the peasants hope that this abuse will end soon.

4) The lives of the french peasant were horrible. They had to work hard all the time to tend to the Kings needs. They had to give the 20kg of wheat and 3 chickens as feudal dues to one lord and even more to the kings tax collectors.

5) Yes it does explain why they resented the rich. The rich made more money and had less to do. The poor people had to give away stock and pay taxes with only $750-$200 a year. The rich made up to 50, 000 and hardly did anything. All the peasants money was going to them so the peasants were basically carrying the rich.

6) The peasants would be most influenced by his words because he was basically saying that they cant force you to do anything. One man cant force thousands of people to do anything.

7) I think that the pamphlet was banned because they knew that if the people saw this they would rebel. The rich and clergy wanted to ban it because they knew that the only reason they were so rich and had so much power was because of the peasant's.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

According to the declaration of independence, we are all equal. I think the right that Jefferson is talking about is that we have the right to speak. Every one's voice should be heard. I think the government get its power from the people. We decide who runs for office and what happens in our world today. "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed", this quote means that they derive there power from the people. We are the people being governed. Jefferson got all of his idea from John Locke who instituted the basic idea of democracy.

Copernius and the trial of Galileo

During the scientific revolution people believed in many different things. They didn't only argue about Evolution or Religion they argued about where the earth was and how it was formed and when the sun was and how it was formed.

Geocentrism was the belief that the earth was in the center of the universe and everything revolved around it. This theory was common in ancient Greece and this theory also came first. People believed that this was true because the sun, moon and stars will always come and go at different times and it felt like the earth stood still. The geocentric system was relaced by the heliocentric system which stated that the sun was in the middle of the earth and everything revolved around it.

People also believed in Heliocentrism. Heliocentrism is the belief that the sun is in the center of the universe. Copernicus was the first to actually prove this theory in depth.Many cosmetologist speculated about the fact that the earth revolves around the sun. But Copernicus was the fisrt to create a detailed heliocentric system and later on in the years Kepler and Galileo expanded on it and defended his facts. This Theory came out of the scientific revolution.

The trial of Galileo was a very famous trial. He was sentenced to life in Prison by the catholics for what he believed in. He believed in Copernicus planetary system. The catholics on the other hand believed in the geocentric planet system. Later the catholics admitted they were wrong in their judgment against Galileo.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The scientific Method is when you have a problem and you use steps to solve it. First you create Observations. You see something that is out of the ordinary or just plain down right weird and you come up with a Problem. A problem is what you get from all the information you gathered. Then you have to Analyze the data you have and then you get a Hypothesis. A hypothesis is a educated guess that you come up with based on the information you already know and the problem.

Now you have to test your hypothesis with an Experiment. An experiment is when you use tools and your knowledge to test your hypothesis and to solve your problem. Finally you come up with a Conclusion. A conclusion is what you get when you have finished your experiment, analyzed all the data you have and have found an answer to your problem.

I wanted to know why cetain soda's sank or floated to the bottom of a tub of water. I saw what was happening and i discovered a problem. The i came up with a hypothesis on why i think it happened based on the information i knew. Then i created an expirement and tested my hypothesis. Finally i analyzed my data and came up with a conclusion on why certain soda's sink to a bottom of a tub of water.

Evolution Vs. Creation

For some time now the world has been debating about how humans have been created. some believe in Evolution and some believe
in Creation. Evolution involves people starting out as monkeys and
growing into the humans they are today. Creation involves God and him bringing us onto this earth.

Darwin's theory of evolution is based on ancestry. He believes that everyone has evolved from one ancestor. He beleived that once one species has sonthing, the more it grows and the more it evolves. Evolution means that we are always changing. As humans we always change; we grow taller, bigger or even smaller. Everyone changes even animals. 5,000 years from now we will probably all have wings and can breathe under water.

Creationism is a religios belief. It is a belief that evrything (the earth, people, universe, animals) were all ccreated by one God. Everyone belive different things on wheather it was one God or many Gods to create everything but basically there was one true God that did it. They say that God created everyone in the image of him. He sent his son Jesus Christ to come and Die on the cross for our sins since we all do it. There is a known fact that Jesus was real and was on earth but they stil dont belive that God is.

I believe in Creationism. I was brought up beliveing that God is real and created us. We hear about miracles and God changing peoples lifes in ways that cant be explained by science. I go to church every sunday and belive in everything i hear and read.