Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium Wars started when Britain wanted to trade with China, but China said no. Britain wanted access to the vast amount of natural resources available in China, but China didn't interact with other countries. So Britain took opium, an addicting drug, and started to give it to Chinese people so they would become addicted and be forced to trade with them. This eventually caused problems within the Chinese population and economy.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

The problems that European explorers faced was mostly due to the rough terrain that was impossible to traverse and the threat of malaria from mosquitoes. Also, many of the African tribes would attack explorers and either kill them, or bring the exploration to a halt. The naming of the lake is strange because they named it after a British queen even though it is an African river. The Europeans had superior weaponry, knowledge, and medicine. The Europeans conquered Africa easily due to advanced weapons, such as the machine gun.

Imperialism Project

We did this project to learn about imperialism all over the world throughout the course of history. In a scramble for power and wealth, many countries and civilizations fell to European power. It all started as a search for new riches and items for trade, but it turned into search and conquer.

Karl Marx and Communism

Marx's idea of communism was to eliminate the social barriers of the rich and the poor. Marx wanted everybody to share the wealth, so government control would eventually fade away. Communism is a economic structure and idea that promotes the establishment of a classless society based on common ownership and control of corporations and property in general. Marx thought that capitalism was doomed to fail. He believed that the classes of society would clash and the lower-class citizens would rise up and take over. He thought it wasn't fair that the lower-class workers worked more and more for less and less money, while the upper-class got paid more for doing less.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is the idea of being loyal to a country or people of a similar ancestry and being united because of that. I am nationalistic by saluting to the flag when ever I get a chance. Before the idea of Nationalism, most countries 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.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was called "The Great Liberator" in South American countries. He was the man who led most South American countries to freedom from Spain. He was a man who studied the political ideas of France and the United States and believed that it was time for independence from the Spanish. Simon had an army of less than ten thousand, and with his military prowess, freed many South American counties and united them under his rule. Although he wasn't the greatest political leader, only establishing a short-term government, his military actions led the greatest revolution in South American history.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

The "Rights" that Jefferson was talking about are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Jefferson said that all men were created equal and deserved those certain, unalienable "rights". According to the Declaration of Independence, the government comes from the people. The power of the government comes from the people, and can be changed or abolished by the people.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

There are two theories of the solar system, heliocentric and geocentric. The first theory was Geocentrism, the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe and all the planets revolve around the Earth. During the Scientific Revolution, a man named Nicolaus Copernicus came up with Heliocentrism, the idea that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the Earth. Copernicus' theory was in fact the correct one.
The trial of Galileo was an example of science vs. religion. The church accused Galileo of heresy, crimes against the church. The church said the theory of heliocentrism went against the words of the bible. They thought since Jesus descended to Earth to become man, it was fitting that the Earth was the center around which all other things moved.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method was an idea that was developed in the late 1500's. It is a process of challenging ideas and theories. Before this idea, people would just believe a theory without understanding the thought behind it. Scientists started to use the Scientific Method to test theories and ideas to see if they could prove or disprove them.
Like for example, if you wanted to prove that plants grow faster with sunlight. You would first observe two plants, one given sunlight and one not given sunlight. You would then analyze the growth of the plants over a time period and track it. Then according to the data you gathered, you would decide if your hypothesis is true or not. You can do the Scientific Method as many times as you need to until you come up with a definite answer.

Evolution vs. Creation

- Evolution is the theory that all life comes from a common ancestor. Mutation and adaption took place over hundreds of millions of years. Many people had ideas about Evolution, but Charles Darwin came up with the first modern theory.