Opium Wars - Imperialism in China

According to definition Opium is "a bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug" that is used to cause "dullness or inaction" and is able to soothe the mind and its emotions. The British took advantage of its effects and used it against the Chinese since they had Tea which was something they wanted from them but the Chinese just wouldn't budge when they asked to trade with them. The British began trading the Chinese Opium which soon got them addicted to the drug as its effect says. Soon this led to a major problem for the Chinese Government had ruled that the trading of Opium is illegal and there would be consequences if trading of opium had occurred. Though the ban on Opium was made Chinese citizens still continued on with it. They became so addicted to it that their money/economy deteriorated.

Once their financials became low they decided to end the trade and get rid of the Opium they had under their possession. The British on the other hand did not take this action very kindly for they had decided to rage into this and start a battle. Obviously the British had the upper hand due to technological advantages and a more stable economy than that of the Chinese. Chinese officials made a mistake in their part by actually having tax collectors heavily tax the people which was a bad idea for they had not expected the Brits to attack. Another reason for their loss is due to their low financial stability for they couldn't organize a military let alone one strong enough to take down that of the British. Also they would risk their own regular trade functions by going to war with the British. In the end of the war Great Britain signed a peace treaty with China because one; china didn’t want lose its pride and two; it was obvious of the outcomes of this war.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

In class we watched a movie called "Mountains of The Moon." It was a very interesting movie to see due to all the violence and action and sheer confusion I got when I saw Richard Burton live a spear right to the face. This movie showed a great example of Imperialism because Richard Burton and John Speke were on a mission to find the source of the Nile River. On their way they met natives of Africa and had various fights with some of them. One of the most important scenes in the movie featured Burton showing the Ruler of a village a gun. He found it very interesting and decided to shoot it at someone all of the natives were terrified of the object. They faced other hardships such as the way they were going to the source. The land they walked on was not the best thing to walk on in the heat. One of the most disturbing things that happened was when John Speke had a beetle go into his ear it was a very disturbing and painful scene to watch. Also some of the people that were helping Burton and Speke decided to desert them and take some supplies with them. 

When Speke had claimed he had found the source of the Nile River some problems between him and Burton came up and this led to a trial decide this. In the end Speke ended up taking himself out of the picture by killing himself. Burton had decided to not continue saying his side of the trial for he was in the shadow of John's death. Speke was indeed right when he claimed Lake Victoria, which was soon to be named, was the actual source of the gigantic river known as the Nile. The odd thing about the name of the lake is that why a lake in Africa would be named after a queen from England? Well it’s probably due to the fact that the people, who went out of their way to find and name it, were Europeans even more into detail of English decent. Though it’s in Africa the natives there are too uneducated or even carefree as to even name their territory. Imperialism was basically a system and this movie showed a great example of that. The Europeans came educated the Natives of Africa and taught them a more civilized lifestyle. Overall it was a more industrial move for them.  

This movie was a great way to show the Europeans would dominate over the Natives. This may be a weird way to state this but when Burton survived the spear to the face it was a foreshadowing of how dominant a gun is compared to simple tools made form nature like spears and shields. In a fight between people with spears and people with gun the answer is obvious. The guns are more advanced and therefore will easily take down the person coming at you with a spear. It is also sign of showing how the Europeans wouldn't stop till they got what they wanted, which is both the land and for the people of Africa to live a more courteous and kind natured lifestyle. The part where Speke was showing the Native how to pour tea was an example of this for he was showing him how to do something the right way. The will of Speke and Burton to journey across the Africa was a rough one but in the end after many hardships, fights and emotions their mission was complete into finding the source of the Nile River.

Imperialism Project

This projected on imperialism was used to teach us how imperialism worked and as to why the countries were taken over by the parent country. This project not only taught us about color coding and how important it was to see how far Europe had reached for raw materials but also how many countries had been a part of this. The map we were working on, with our partners, consisted of us pasting items like Gold, Cotton, Silver and etc... Onto the maps and making arrows indicating from country to country as to what actions was going on and which country was going where.

The coloring portion of the project was interesting because we saw Europe go to places like Canada and many more places that I had not known they would go to. This also helped me learn that there are places in Africa I never heard of that Europe took over and it was all because they had really good natural resources. As the picture in this post indicates almost all of Africa was taken over by countries in Europe. France and Britain were two of the biggest players in this Imperialism game as you can see from the picture. Another important thing I also learned from this project that not displayed in the picture is that slaves were also transported around from the Eastern U.S. and Africa during this time. There were several trades routes that we needed to draw. The one I remember was from Britain to China that one, as I learned later on, led to the Opium wars.