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.