Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium War between China and Great Britain was during 1839-1842. Opium is a drug grown in India and is used to make morphine and heroin. It is used to relieve pain, but it can also be harmful. The British decided that they needed to balance their trade so they decided to sell and buy this drug to China. China didn't like that, so they decided to put, whoever is dealing with Opium, to death. The Chinese wanted to stop the growing import trade in Opium. Obviously, the medicine wasn't doing any good, it turned into a drug. The tradings began to flourish. The British Opium trade started in China and began the world's first drug war.
By the middle of 1842, the British had defeated the Chinese at their trade route, the Yangtze, and were occupying Shanghai. The war finally ended in August 1842, with the signing of China's first Unequal Treaty, the Treaty of Nanking.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

There were some hardships that Europeans had while traveling through Africa, were traveling by foot. Another was that they were losing some supplies like food and water because of theifs. Also, they had to fight off the natives living in Africa. Some of them didn't survive the exploration. It was pretty strange that the world's largest river in the world, the Nile River, had a lake that was named Lake Victoria, after the British Queen. It was wierd because the europeans did not discover the lake, they just mapped it. They should not have had the right to name it. Europeans were far more advanced than African people. Europeans had better weapons. For example, in the movie, the Africans had never seen a gun. they were stunned. As a result of the high advancement of techology, Africa was easily conquered.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism is a worldwide society. It is a form of government developed by Karl Marx. Communism is when all people should be equal, meaning that private property, resources like plants, factories, oil, coal etc. should be owned in common by the government. Marx's ideas was that workers should be in control of factories and farms than owners. There are more workers than owners. He wanted all the workers in the world to start a revolution. Karl Marx wanted communism to be taken over the world because he didn't like the fact that workers were working in factories very harsh and unsafe. After Marx died, communism didn't really take over because of the government. They didn't want communism propaganda. A lot of countries were communists, but now the only ones that remain is Cuba, China, and North Korea.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was a communist. He didn't like the fact that factories that workers were working in were harsh and unsafe.He wanted the workers to unite in a worldwide revolution. He wanted a form of government where all the people own property and including land and capital and as a result he invented communism.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is basiclly a love for your nation. Nationalism is basiclly being loyal to a country and being united because of that. I am nationalistic by speaking the language of America, English, and by usin the American currency, "dollars. Before the idea of Nationalism, most countries, such as Italy were ruled by whatever kingdom took over, so there was no real sense of unity between the people or countries. Even if they spoke a different language or had different customs, the territories were bound together under one king or ruler. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria ruled the Italian provinces of Venetia and Lombardy in the north. In the south, the Spanish Bourbon family ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and because of nationalism, Italy became Italy! It's own country!

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was called "The Great Liberator" in South American countries. He was called that because he was the man who led most South American countries to freedom from Spain. He was a man who believed that it was time for independence from the Spanish. Simon Bolivar had an army of less than ten thousand, and with his military army,he freed many South American counties and united them under his rule. Although he wasn't the greatest political leader, because he established a short-term government, his military actions led the greatest revolution in South American history. As a result, a country was named after him because of his great actions as a liberator.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

The U.S. Constitution states that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."

This means that people shouold be treated as if they are created equal, and should have their rights. According to the U.S. Constitution, the government gets it's power from the people. With no people to support it, there would not be a strong and civilized government.

Copernicus and The Trial of Galileo

The Geocentric theory is a greek theary that maintained that Earth was the center of the universe. It seemed important to early astronomers that the rest of the universe moved around a stable, motionless Earth. The Sun, Moon, planets, and stars could be seen moving around Earth along circular paths day after day. It appeared reasonable to assume that Earth was stationary, because it seemed to not to move.

The heliocentric theory is a theory that states that the Sun is the central body of the solar system and perhaps of the universe. Everything else revolves around it. The first evidence of the theory is found in the writings of ancient Greek philosopher-scientists deduced by the sixth century B.C. that Earth is round (nearly spherical) from observations that during eclipses of the Moon , Earth's shadow on the Moon is always a circle of about the same radius wherever the Moon is on the sky. Only a round body can always cast such a shadow.

The Geocentric Theory came before the Heliocentric theory. The Heliocentric theory came about during the Scientific Revolution. The theory that has been proven true would be the heliocentric theory. Todat we all know that the sun is in the center of the Universe.

Galileo Galilei was on trial for writing in a book his idea that the Earth was not at the center of the universe, that the sun was at the center. The Catholic Church believed in the Geocentric theory. They believed that the universe revolved around the Earth. Galileo was sentencted to house arrest.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The scientific Method is a procedure used by scientists to test hypotheses by making predictions about the outcome of an experiment, before the experiment is performed. Also, it helps us prove information true or false, especially theorys. The Scientific method consists of 5 main steps:

(1) Define your problem
(2) Create a Hypothesis
(3) Do the acual experiment
(4) Collect your data
(5) Create a conclusion based on your data

There are many experiments using the Scientific Method. One example would be Einstein's prediction that light bends in a gravitational field. To use the Scientific Method, you would have to go through all the steps to solve your problem, but im not sure how use would test your hypothesis in that particular experiment.

Evolution Vs. Creation

Darwin's Theory of Evolution states that all life is related and it came from a common ancestor. It basicly states that complex creatures evolve from more simple ancestors naturally over time. Eventually, humans evolved from a common ancestor, monkeys or primates.

Creation is a religious belief that, humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in some form by a supernatural being, also known as God. Creation is believed by all highly religious people, such as priests, popes, etc. Creation is actualy stated in the holy bible, Genesis 1-2.

There are actualy many oppinions on Evolution vs. Creation. Some people either agree on Evolution or Creation. There is nothing in between. My oppnion is that I believe in Evoution. I believe this because my parents believe in Evolution too. I am Othodox but I rarely go to church, so I am not highly religious. Also, I believe that it makes sense that we came from primates because we look a lot like them.