Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

The Opium Wars were a series of wars that took place during the mid 1800's. These wars took place over Great Brittan's right to trade with China for opium. Brittan started trading opium to the Chinese people for their goods, and after they were addicted Brittan had a lot of control over China. Eventually China made opium illegal. Brittan then bribed government officials and made an illegal opium trade. This eventually led to war, which Brittan won, because of their technological superiority.

Mountains of the Moon

The movie mountains of the moon is about 2 explorers who set forth to find the source of the Nile River. The European people were far more advanced, but they succumbed to diseases, like malaria from mosquitoes. They also needed some help in communicating with the people in Africa, so they found a guide like person. They named the lake after Queen Victoria because they had found the lake and they wanted to honor their queen. Then they went back to Europe, where one man killed himself, and the other debated on the possible source of the river.

Imperialism Project

In the imperalism project we cut out various things that were valuble during the industrial revolution. Then we pasted them on a world map according to where they grew or were taken from. Afterwards we color coded the different countries of the world, and what areas of land they owned. This went to show how some countries seized control of others by force or by money. That was our imperialism project.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism was the idea of a man named Karl Marx. He thought that the capitalist system was unfair, and that most of the population didnt have much, while the minority of the population that was rich had everything. So he thought of a different scheme of government where everyone had equal wealth. He thought this was a better way for society to work. Some peolpe agreed with his ideas, and others didnt. The first country to adopt this government was the U.S.S.R. Currently some countries like North Korea and Cuba are communist.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx Hated the entire industrial revolution. He thought things were un evenly stacked against the workers, and that the owners of the factories had all the money and power. He designed and pushed for a new form of government where all people will have equal wealth and power. He called it communism, which is from the word common. Marx believed that it would make the world a better less corrupt place if capitalism was destroyed.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy.

Nationalism is the way people love and respect their country. You can express Nationalism by waving your countries flag, a form of nationalism seen around the world. I show Nationalism by saying the national anthemn, and celebrating the 4th of July. Also another way i show Nationalism is by using the English language, which is the national language of America.

Before 1815 most of Italy was controlled by Austria. From around 1815-1848, two leaders from italy helped achieve their independence. After this italy came out with several political problems, but in time they united.

Simon Bolivar and the Latin Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was the leader of several succesful revolutions. He is known throughout the world as the liberator of south america. He saw that the government of America was doing great and that the people had power. He then helped the country Venezula start a revolution, and they won their independence in 1821. Afterwards he also helped Ecuador, Columbia , Panama, and Peru win their independence. His idea behind the revolutions was that a country halfway around the world shouldnt rule them. In fact, the country Bolivia was named after him because he was so famous.

John Locke and The Enlightenment

Thomas Jefferson said that "All men are created equal." This means that we are all equal, and have right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Another thing we have the right to is that is the government denies us any of the 3 rights listed above, we the people can abolish the government and select a new leader
The current ideas of government were formed by John Locke. He gathered bits of ideas from enlightenment thinkers and he put them together, to form a government layout very similar to ours.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

First came the idea of a geocentric universe. That was the idea of the universe revolving around the earth, and Aristotle and Ptolmey both supported this. Afterwards, during the scientific revolution, Copernicus and Galileo both supported the heliocentric theory. That was the idea of the sun being in the center of the universe. Galileo Galilei proposed this theory to the Roman Catholic Church. After a trial, he was sentanced to house arrest. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest and died there.

The Scientific Method

The scientific method is what you use to prove a theory. Scientists have been using it for years and years. One example of the scientific method is when Galileo proved Aristotle wrong in his theorey that heavier things fall faster. Now because of Galileos experiments we all know how everything in a zero air resistance enviornment falls at the same speed. With out the scientifis method we wouldnt be able to definitively prove anything and there would have been many many less inventions and there would be constant disputes among the scientific community about whether or not something could have been proven.

Evolution vs. Creation

I believe in evolution. Its not that i think religion is wrong, i just believe evolution because there is evidence supporting it. The most prominent evidence is that of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin went to the gallapagos islands, and observed Finches. He saw that some finches had longer beaks, some had shorter beaks, some had large strong beaks, and some had tweezer like beaks. He deducted that over millions and millions of years all these types of finches slowly evolved depending on what they ate or what they adapted to eat, and that is what made all the variety. I much believe this over the theory god made the earth in 7 days, because it can be proven.

I dont believe the christian theory, i find it highly unlikely that the book god wrote only talks about earth and not the other billions of planets that there are. Also, how could every organism remain thhe same after all that time? Everything changes eventually. Everything.