The Opium Wars

The reason there was a opium wars was that the British needed something to trade with the Chinese because they didn't need anything from the British but the British needed things from the Chinese like tea and silver. When the British found out that they could sell opium, they sold it by the pounds of it. They sold chests of it which each weighed about 150 pounds. When the Chinese found out what is happening, they confiscated the chests and burned them but that didn't stop the British.To make sure that the drugs made it to the consumer, they sent warships. The Chinese was angry and started a war. They lost swiftly due to the fact that they weren't as technogically advanced as the British. The Chinese made a treaty with them that gave them Hong Kong and opened new ports for them. Other nations took the time to take advantage of the defeat of China and gained prots as well.

The White Man's Burden

The white mans burden is what you get from a master to a slave. A burden could easily be washing their feet or getting them something to eat. It is just something that they are ordered to do. What believe what the poem means is that the white men are taking everything that was once theirs and turning it into their own amusement. They take everything and use any which way so that they might be able to get something from it. Yes. America is still imperialistic. The evidence for this is the war that we are in now. We have defeated them but now we want to change their style of goverment to suit us. Even though we are imperialistic, we are not living the white man's burden. What that meant is to enslave them and make them do our dirty work and change their religon.

The Scramble For Africa

The term "The Scramble for Africa" means that all the major powers that were above Africa planned to invade and conquer parts of Africa but also had to compete with each other. The nations involved in this "Scramble" were: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Great Britian, Holland, Belgium and France. These nations were looking to spread their beliefs and thought since each were the superior race that they should teach the Africans manners. It was also a competion between themselves and the other nations. They were able to dominate Africa easily because they had better technology and since Africa was already divided into tribes, they didn't want to unite to take care of the nations. This scramble affected the people because millions died doing work for them and many people were relocated to different parts of Africa. Even today, Africa is still divided into the parts that the nations conquered.

Film Lesson:"Mountains of the Moon"

Some hardships that the Europeans faced in Africa were those of the tribes that never saw white people before them. Another hardship was that they had to deal with dieases and insects. They also had to walk through the African land and desert. It is strange that the source of the nile river is named after a British queen becaused none of the english people have ever lived there and yet the Africans still kept the name. The primary technological advancement that the britians have ever had was of the guns that they had. The europeans took over Africa easily because of the guns and the turmoil of the African tribes.