The Opium Wars

China is a very old country with ideals that have lasted more than two thousand years. The Chinese people were satisfied with their way of life and had little interest in the nations of the Western Hemisphere. Tea which is grown in China, had become a big drink in Great Britain. China would have rather not traded with the British. They were going to trade with Britain only if they used there port in Canton. They did not want western ideas in their society.The British decided they needed to "balance their trade." That means that they must buy and sell to China, not just buy. So they decided to sell Opium. Western Civilization has grown and prospered in the past millennium because of trade. so they tried to keep that going.

Opium is a drug grown in India. Opium is used to make morphine and heroin. Opium is made from poppi seeds. The Chinese government outlawed the import of Opium because of the debilitating effects of the drug.In 1838, China ruled that anyone dealing in Opium would be put to death. Shortly after that, government official began to destroy any opium coming into their land. This brought war, henced the name "The Opium Wars".

The Opium War lasted from 1839 to 1842. The British firepower was way better than China. So China took a humiliating defeat. The governments signed a peace treaty that allowed the British to use five ports instead of one. The Chinese also lost control of the important island of Hong Kong. Eventually, China was also forced to legalize the selling of opium. The treaty that ended the Opium War was the first of many "unequal treaties" with the west. It began a century of invasion and humiliation for a very proud nation.

Film lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

The Europeans faced many hardships as they explored Africa. Some of them were: that they caught diseases like malaria and had to cures for them till later. They also had no maps, so Africa was an unknown land to them. Many African tribes were territorial and killed/tortured foreign people, therefore the Europeans always had to trade and give away things to content the others. The European explorers also had difficulty sleeping in the wilderness as they had to be protected from bugs and insects. Africa was completely unknown land to the Europeans, and that was a major factor into making exploration difficult. What makes thing even worst after the Europeans got into the country after the hardship, they began taking over, naming things without consent of the African's .

It is weird that Lake Victoria is named after a British Queen, since it is located deep inside Africa. It is strange since the British did not discover the lake as there were already people living there. Africa had no specific boundaries or border lines. Africa's countries were all mapped out by the British. It is also weird how the lake is still named Lake Victoria today.

The Europeans had a lot of technological advances compared to the Africans. The Europeans had huge ships, magnifying glasses, telescopes, guns, goods, etc. The latest weapons the Africans had at that time were spears. The Europeans were more advanced and developed technological.

The Europeans eventually conquered Africa easily because of their invention of the machine gun. The Africans were surprised from a basic handgun, and the machine was just devastating. This allowed the Europeans to easily overtake Africa and conquer it. The Africans had no defenses against the Europeans' guns. There was no chance of stopping the Europeans from invading and taking over their land.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

For a long period of time, the nation of Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world. This was known as the Tokugawa period. The Shogun and the samurai believed that outside contacts could potentially threaten their power. This period of isolation lasted for over 250 years. In 1853, four American warships appeared in Edo Bay. They were under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry. He came with a request from the United States government asking for Japan to open up its ports and to establish diplomatic relations between the two nations. Perry came with the sails of his ships down to show the Japanese the technological progress that the West has made. The Japanese also saw the guns on the ships and knew that no Japanese vessel can stand up against Western ships. The Japanese knew they could not reject any of the United States' requests because those requests were backed up with force. The Japanese decided to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States which opened up ports to United States ships. This allowed other Western nations to sign treaties with Japan.

There was much unrest afterward and the Shogun no longer ruled Japan. The Meiji Restoration was when power was "restored" to Emperor Meiji. During the Tokugawa period, the Emperor had no real power and only had ceremonial duties. Emperor Meiji wanted to modernize Japan and used Western nations as his model. He sent envoys to study the West's political system's. What was learned was used to shape Japan's government. Their old feudal system was done away with. A new system was set in place which allowed citizens to elect their legislators. They also imitated the education systems and the military of the West which made Japan a very powerful nation.