Opium Wars- Imperialism in China

From 1839-1842 the "Opium Wars" was fought between China and Britain. Britain needed tea from China because it has become a very popular drink in Britain. Chinese officials agreed to sell them tea but not buy anything from "western countries". Britain decided that they needed to "balance out their trade" so they sold Opium to chinese so they become addicted to it and keep buying from them in exchange for them buying tea. Chinese officials became furious and a war over opium started thats why its called the "Opium Wars". The Chinese were defeated by the British due to lack of modern technology.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

The hardships that the Europeans faced while traveling through Africa were not having knowledge of the terrain, basically the Europeans were going to the middle of Africa to find the source of the Nile River not knowing what they will have to face. Their supplies went by quick because there was almost no source of food or water for most of the time. They also came across African tribes which were violent and didn't want them on their land. But the Europeans overcame that by giving them stuff they have never seen before. 

Its strange that the lake is named Victoria because its Africa's lake not the British. The name still haven't changed till this day.

Europeans technology was way more advanced in any aspect of life and the Europeans dominated in Africa because of the guns. While the Africans had spears the Europeans had handguns that were feared by the natives. 

Imperialism Project

We did the imperialism project to understand what the areas of the world did the Europeans take over and managed and why. The Europeans needed natural resources for their industrial products so they sailed all over the world to other continents (Africa, both Americas, Asia, Australia) and with the help of the newest technology took control of them to obtain the natural resources, capture and send slaves to the New World. What I learned from the project was which countries took over the African, American, Middle-Eastern countries and Australia. Also I learned how each country benefited from taking control of an area.