The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was the most embarrassing defeat that they had faced. It was the first drug war in the 19th century. Opium is a drug made from poppy seedpods and is also used to make heroin. It was mostly used to as medicine to cure diseases. It was made and shipped to China from India from British traders. This drug is a very addictive drug and many Chinese people had gotten high off commonly in the early 1800's. 2 million pounds of opium was being sold to China and about 10% of the Chinese population smoked Opium. China's economy went down because of the silver being used to pay for the Opium. To balance out trade with the British importing, the Chinese would export tea to Britain.

Britain won the Opium War. It technology was so advance to defeat China in the world. They had huge ships with cannons and gun machines, nothing compared to the small things China had. China's army got demolished. After their defeat, China allowed trading ports for foreigners.

"The White Man's Burden"

"The White Man's Burden" is a poem written Rudyard Kipling about the United States's conquest to take over The Phillipines. It is considered a very racist poem. The White people thought they were better than everybody else. So, they took it upon themselves to take over the Phillipines and teach them how to be civilized. They took it upon themselves and still considered it a burden. From the interperatations that I read, I agree with the analysis. The analysis states that the white people had an obligation to encourage the Phillipines to be cultured and well-bred like the white people from the West. The picture is an advertisment teaching the people of the Phillipines how to be clean.

The United Statestoday is some-what imperialist. For example, In Iraq. We are fighting a battle with Iraq because the President wants to change the government to a democracy. That is a little imperialistic because we want to take the smaller country and change it. Also, in Puerto Rico. Presently, the Puerto Ricans have to carry the Puerto Rican flag along with the American flag.

With the exception of Iraq, we are not living the "White Man's Burden." In today's society, most people are cultured and know how to act. We know how take care of ourselves, physcially [hygiene], emotionally and mentally. People don't need the help of other countries to tell them how to live. We have the ability to do it ourselves.

The Scramble For Africa

"The Scramble for Africa" was mostly about the European countries racing to colonized territories in Africa. The Europeans nations were the ones that set borders on the continent of Africa. It began in 1881 with France, when it moved into Tunis. After many years of ignoring the continent of Africa, Europe felt that it had to put influence of the countries of it. The countries involved in the Scramble for Africa were Britain, France, Belgium and Germany. Britain's colonization of Africa began when the Suez Canal was built through Egypt. This canal was opening opportunities for the British to take over Africa. Little by little they began to conquer East Africa, but they wanted to expand upward for diamonds and gold. It took the British two wars to defeat the Boers, who were Dutch, to conquer African territory. The French's main concern for colonizing Africa was for its resources. After their defeat in the Franco-Prussia War, they wanted commercial gain and prestige so the wanted to move eastward. Belgium was one the most important reasons why they titled this the "Scramble for Africa." The King of Belgium just wanted to pt his flag on territory and was willing to pay any amount of money for it. Belgium contributed it most sense of urgency for land during the "Scramble for Africa." Germany joined the "Scramble for Africa very late. They barely got any land. The Africans left used and conquer. They felt as if the imperialist were taking over what was theirs and had no say in anything.

Film Lesson: "Mountain of the Moon"

In the film "Mountains of the Moon" British explorers were set on an adventure to discover the source of the Nile River in Africa. Africa is a very large continent and the Nile River was right smack in the middle of the continent. Africa was also surrounded by many deserts, like the Saharra Desert which is located in the Northern part of Africa. The Saharra Desert was about the size of the United States. So the English explorers had to go from England and go all around Africa until they were in the eastern part of Africa. In the journey from England to Africa, the English explorers lost many men due to sickness. One common sickness was malaria. From there, they went inland into Africa in search of the Nile River. The explorers faced many hardships when the went inland into Africa. The tribes in Africa are very territorial, so when the saw Richard Burton and his explorers enter on their territory, they would attack them. The only way Burton and his explorers were to enter the land of the tribes was if they bought gifts for them.

One of the explorers had located a river and belived that it was the source of the Nile. They weren't completely sure but they were correct. The source of the Nile is named Lake Victoria after the British Queen. It is no surprise the English explorers named the river they discovered after the English Queen. That is why the lake was named Lake Victoria.

The English explorers had many advantages towards conquering Africa. They had very advanced technology at that time like machines guns and guns. The English people could easily defeat the Africans tribes with these weapons. Eventually, the English began to take over. Currently, South Africa is occupied with people who's ancestors were English.