Opium Wars - Imperialism In China

Tea was a popular drink in China and soon became popular in Europe. The Europeans wanted the tea but China would only trade in one port sine their government didn't want them to adopt ideas. Then Great Britain thought of ideas so that they can buy and sell in China and not just buy. The Europeans then started to sell opium to the Chinese people which was a drug. The Europeans sold opium to the Chinese and they got addicted to it. This ended up making the Chinese trade tea for opium and the government ruled that if anyone is caught trading opium they would be put to death. Then Britain declared war on china for banning opium and attacked China using their gunships while China was unaware of the attack. This is called the opium wars because Britain was trading opium to china which led to China banning opium and led to a war. Great Britain won the war easily while China had a humiliating defeat. This is due to China being behind in technology and had ancient weapon while Britain had more modern weapons due to China restricting trade which prevented new ideas from entering China.

Film Lesson: Mountains Of The Moon

In mountains of the moon the Europeans sent a crew to Africa to search for the source of the Nile and eventually found it. On their expedition they faced many hardships and most of their crew eventually ended up dyeing. Some of the hardships they face was getting through Africa since most of it was uncharted so they were going into the unknown. Another hardship they faced was meeting other tribes along the way some that attacked them and some became allies. The next hardship was the conditions in the desert insects such as mosquito that carry malaria. It is strange that Victoria Falls is named after a British queen because the land that it is in is Africa and not a European country. The technological advantage they had was that they had better weapons and other utilities than the Africans who used spears and other ancient technology. They were able to conquer Africa easily because the Europeans had better weapons that are more advanced and the Africans relied on ancient weapons.

Imperialism Project

It was to show the countries that the Europeans conquered in parts of the Americas, and Africa. It was also to show the divisions of the countries in those continents. We also did it to show the shipping routes and what they traded to each other. I learned how many countries were conquered by various European countries such as Great Britain and Spain. I also learned things they traded such as Gold and Silver. I also learned that Great Britain traded China Opium to get tea because China wouldn't open up for trade with foreign countries and so they traded Opium since the Chinese would get addicted and eventually traded tea. This then led to the Opium Wars and Great Britain won easily.