The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were wars between Great Britan and China. These wars were due to the drug opium and that is why they were called the Opium Wars. Great Britan wanted to balance out their tea trade with China however since China was a self-sufficiant country, China in reality wanted nothing to trade with Great Britan even though they used gold and silver, they couldn't find anything else to trade. This is when Great Britan began to import opium into China from India. The Chinese people bought it very easily. However even though during the 15- century, opium was first used as medicine to treat diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and diarrhea, the British promoted opium in China as being smoked as a drug.

Each year about 2 million pounds of opium were being sold in China. This affected China very much because it weakened its population due to the fact that nearly 10 percent of the people in China were smoking opium. It also affected China ecomonically because of the large amount of resources used to pay for the opium. The illegal selling of opium became a big problem in China because even the Chinese government accepted brides from the British and became corrupted themselves. During the war, when China discovered the opium selling, the British attacked China in a very unexpected way. Due to the fact that China was not ready for these attacks and being that they weren't as advanced as Great Britan, the British won the war and China was forced to sign a treaty called the Treaty of Nanjing. This treaty not only ended the war but also opened more ports in China for the British.

Film Lesson: "Mountains on the Moon"

The Europeans faced many hardships while exploring Africa and trying to find the source of the Nile River. For once, the Europeans had to deal with the tribes in Africa. Theses tribes would destroy where the Europeans would sleep and threaten the explorartion of Richard Burton and John Speak. John Speak got captured once by a tribe and was stable in both legs. As f0r Richard Burton he got sa speare right through. As the explorartion conttinued the Europeans had to deal with the wild animals as well. For instance, Richard Burton saved a run away slave from a pair of tigers. However if it wasnt for John Speak being as backup Burton would have been attacked or even killed by the furious lion. The source of the Nile River is called Lake Victoria and it is named after a British Queen. It is very weird that it is still named Lake Victoria because Queen Victoria has been dead for many years now. The Europeans were able to conquer Africa due to the fact that they were very advance in technology. For instance, the Europeans had weapons and gun and they also had alot of money and tools to hunt. In additon the Europeans also had slaves to do all the dirty work.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Japan is an archipelago which means that it is made up of many different little islands. The country of Japan was basically isolated from the rest of the world for a long period of time. Japan had no interaction with the outside world and they did want to either. However Mathew Perry was sent to Japan in order to get goods from them. Mathew Perry wanted to water and coal for their ships and their trade with China. These Americans also wanted to open the doors for Japan it would not be an isolated country anymore. The Japanese did not want to sign the treaty of trade but since they didn't want the Americans to destroy their country, they actually ended up signing the treaty of trade. In other words, Japan was sort of forced to sign the treaty of trade. After they signed it, they were no longer isolated from the world because they now started to trade with Russia, China, Britan, and France. As Japan began to trade more their economy grew and went up because they weren't relying on only themselves anymore. As the economy grew the government began to change and dissolve. The government was now militarize and Japan became more industrialized and commercialized due to the western political and economic influences.

Karl Marx and Communism

Karl Marx saw that because of the Industrial Revolution the only people that were moving forward and becoming rich were the owners of factories and businesses. However, the people who worked long hours and under horrible conditions were getting no where. He believed that everyone should have the same pay in other words equality. He also believed that the workers should be the ones controlling the factories and farms instead of the landlords or that the workers should united and cause a revolution. Karl Marx stated that the wealth should be distributed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Karl Marx believed that capitalism and other governments were only for the rich people because they were the only ones in power and the only ones that had the most money. With communism everyone would have the same pay and no one would own any property. This meant that there would not be any social classes what so ever.

Karl Mark and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Mark was a man who didn't appreciate or like the Industrial Revolution. He believed that the workers were being treated very unfairly and the wage they were getting paid were very low. He also believed that the factories were in very harsh conditions and very dangerous. Karl Mark realized that the factory owners were the only ones getting rich while the workers just worked and worked but continued to be poor. He called the factory owners bougeoisie and the workers or middle class were called the proletarians. This led Karl Marx to develop Communism because he wanted to end the fact that the bougeoisie were the only ones with all the power. He wanted everyone to be equal in pay and in power.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is basicly the pride and loyalty someone has towards his or her country. It is also rooting for or belonging to a certain country. Nationalism could be define by the rights someone has in his/her country, or someones culture, living within define borders, common languages and religion and also the country's history. I am nationalistic because as an American I root for the U.S when its is against other countries or even in competitive sports. In addition, I also celebrate common holidays such as the 4th of July, Christmas and even Thanksgiving. Furthermore, I am also Dominican, therefore I celebrate the Dominican Independence on February 27 and I also go to the Dominican parade.

Nationalism was a very big thing in many countries such as Italy however its states were separated. The people of Italy were becoming very tired of being ruled by other people outside of Italy. Famous people such as Giuseppe Mazzini believed that Italy should be united and freed from the Kings and nobles. This led Mazzini to create a group to help unite Italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar also known as "the Liberator" accomplished many significant things. First of all Simon Bolivar was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. There he lived with his parents, unfortunately his parents died during his teens. Simon Bolivar received a good education in Caracas and also in Spain as well. After his wife's death, Simon Bolivar began to travel a lot into France and Italy. There he study the philosophies of people such as Rousseau, Locke, and Voltaire. Before arriving back to Caracas Simon Bolivar stopped in the United States at the same time that the U.S. had won their independence from Great Britain. This inspired Simon Bolivar and made him convince that is was time for Venezuela's independence from Spain. In addition, he also went to London as well as the United States and studied their system of governments. In London he searched for support for a revolution in South America. When he came back to Venezuela he created a revolutionary army and fortunately after some early defeats, he was able to beat the Spanish and win independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, and Bolivia. His surprise attacks and wise decisions led him to his victory.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

As the French Revolution continued, the king, the nobles, the lords and the the clergy began to lose most of their power over the people in poverty or the lower class men. However the people who were gaining power in France were now becoming greedy and power-hungry. During this time a legislative assembly was set up for the king to share power with but the king didn't agree with that. In results, the Jacobins end up cutting the king's head off for being accused of treason. Around this time, many people's head was cut off using an execution machine called the guillotine. This machine was used with the people found to go against the new government or even people following the old one as well.

Later, Maximilien Robespierre rose up in power. He was the one who came up with the Reign of Terror because during this time the people lived with this fear and terror of their heads being the next one to get cut off (that is how extreme things were). Robespierre as dictator of France did anything and everything he can to get rid of the old government or the old monarchy. For instance, the calendar was changed and Sunday was deleted from the days of the week because they believed religion was now "old fashion." In addition, kings, queens, and jacks were removed and placed with faces of revolutionaries.

Even though Robespierre had so much power, he didn't use it in the right way. The reason why is because people were afraid of getting their heads cut off for really no reason at all. Therefore, Robespierre was arrested and his head was cut off (what goes around comes around) and there ended the Reign of Terror.

The French Revolution

1) Many people in France were critical of the nobility, the king, and the clergy because the king had absolute power. In addition the peasants had to pay taxes and feudal dues to the lord, the king, and also the church. Furthermore, the peasants had no privilages in society even though they made up about 90% of France population.

2) In the year of 1978 a French peasant might have complained about how poor he or she was due to the fact that they had to pay taxes to the upper class men. Additionally, the peasants had to pay the lord in order for them to use their mills, ovens, and winepress. Also the peasants where the ones with the smallest income in France.

3) The cartoonist point in this image is that the upper class men such as the clergy and the lords live of the taxes and the feudal dues of the peasants and that is because in overall, everything that the peasants earn eventually will go to the lord and the Church. The quote " One hopes this will end," means that the peasants believe that one day the king will not have absolute power and that there wouldn't be no more heavy taxes for the peasants to pay.

4) The author of the source B describes the life of a peasants as stressfull and awful with alot of dues. The reason why is because a peasant family only with a morsel of land, a cow, and a horse had to pay feudal dues to two lords and in addition to that they had to pay taxes to the king. Some of the feudal dues include chickens, and a lot of kg of wheat and oats

5) Sources A, B, and C do explain why the peasants resented the rich people because in source C the document conveys that a peasant only make 200 livres a year while a priest would make 10,000 a year. Another reason the peasants would resent the rich people because in source B it states how a family of peasants had to pay so much taxes that they said " the taxes and feudal dues are crushing us," because they had to pay 20kg of wheat and 3 chickens as dues to one lords. To another lord they had to pay 60kg of oats, one chicken, and five pence not including the taxes they had to pay the king.

6) Rousseau's writing would mostly influenced the peasants the most because in Rousseau's writing he conveys that no one has the power to have total control over other people and that in order to achieve something through force such as feudal dues is sort of a violation of the human rights.

7) I believe that the pamphlet was banned by the clergy and the lord (nobility) because they were the ones who were charging these heavy dues and also they were the ones who were living off of the peasants hard work. Furthermore, the king, the nobility, and the clergy all believed in absolute power over the poor people.

John Locke and "The Enlightment"

John Locke was a very influencial person in history especially in the time of "The Enlightment". He as philosopher his notions and ideals influenced Thomas Jefferson when he wrote for the Declaration of Independence. In the Declaration of Independence, John Locke believed that everyone was given rights by God. These rights include Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness. In addition, the Declaration states that in order for the people to keep these rights that a government should be establish and if the government voilates or destructes the rights of the people, then and only then the people should go against it and abolish the government. Additionally, the people have the power to overthrow a government that abuses the human rights of the people. In other words people are the ones that have most of the power due to the fact the we could go against anything and reconstruct it in a more suitable way for the people to live in.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

The theories of geocentric and heliocentric have brought a big controversy for the people and their prespective on how life was created for many of years. Before the Scientific Revolution started many people believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and the all the planets and the stars including the Sun orbited around the Earth. This theory is called the Geocentri theory. However. after the Scientific Revolution some people believed that is wasn't the Earth that was the center of the universe but the Sun was the center of the universe and that everything including the planet Earth moved around the Sun. This theory was brought up by a person named Nicolas Ccpernicus. Copernicus examed the motions of outer space and came up with the heliocentric theory. However not many people believed the heliocentric theory due to the fact that Copernicus didn't have much evidence to prove his point. Therefore many people continued to believe in the geocentric theory and didn't accpet the heliocentric theory. In addition the Roman Catholic Church never accepted the theory of the Sun being the center of the universe up until their were advancements in mathematics and physics took place.

The trial of Galileo was one of the conflicts that had to do with the argument of what was the center of the universe the sun or the Earth. Galileo Galilei was one of the people who just like Copernicus believed that the Earth was not the center of the universe but however the sun was and that the planets including the Earth revolved around the sun. Galileo was put on trial by the Roman Catholic Church for promoting the heliocentric theory in his book. In other words, going against the belief of the church and against the interpretation of the bible. The church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe and therefore Galileo was found guilty and sentenced to house arrest.

Scientific Revolition: The Scientific Method

Before the Scientific Revolution, people got their notions about science from the Ancient Greeks and Romans which of course is where we got our basic ideas that led to greater and more acurate ideals today. Not only did people believed in the Ancient Greeks and Romans before but they also believed in the words of the bible and also they followed the ideas from the religion of Christianity.

However, the Scientific Revolution exposed the people to a new way of thinking that proved or unproved the ideas that everyone had. Scientis began to experiment their ideas about the world and science in order to reach a conclusion that is as acurate as possible. These experiments were conducted through a method called the Scientific Method. The Scientific Method is based on a number of steps in order to reach a final solution or conclusion.

The first step of the Scientific Method is the problem or question of the idea or theory at hand. The next step is called the hypothesis. Here the person doing the experiment will come up with a educated guess (a prediction) about the experiment which has to do with how the scientist believes the experiment will conclude. Then, the scientist would test his/her experiment more than once to have results that are more acurate. Afterwards, he/she would observe and collect the data and results of the experiment and reach a conclusion.

For instance, if I would want to use the Scientific Method to find out which object has more density a dice or a wooden cube. First I would make an hypothesis which is that I believe that the wooden cube would be more denser because the wooden block ways more. Then I would proceed to conduct the experiment. After I'm done with the experiment I would collect my data (results) and reach a conclusion.

Evolution vs. Creation

There have been many controversies and debates between evolution and creation. The two theories of evolution and creation has been going back and forth for many many years. Some people believe in the scientific proof about life, while other people believe in which mankind was created by God.

Darwin's theory of evolution conveys that all creators on Earth have or decsended from a common ancestor and that all aspect of life is highly related. Further more, the theory also states that every creator evolve from a more simplistic ancestor naturaly over time. This is due to natural selection which has to do with the genetic mutation that occurs in a creator. However the beneficial mutations are preserved and past on to the next generation. As these beneficial mutation become more and more over time it would result in an entirely different organism.

On the other hand, creation is a totally different belief. Creationism is the belief that everything including humanity, life, mankind, everything was presupposed or made by god. People here believe that everything was supposed to happen and that everything is written in the book. God is the creator and therefore he should be worshiped and that this is based on religion.

In my point of view I believe in evolution and science. The reason why is because everything stated has evidence behind. As from in creation which is based on religion is all about having a strong faith in something that has no proof about whether it happened or not. For evolution you can see that one thing leads to the next and that it actually makes sense and that is why I believe in evolution and science more than in creation.