The Opium Wars

The first Opium War had to do with the British and the Chinese that began in 1839. At first the Chinese did not want to trade with the British, but eventually the British found out what the Chinese would trade them for, that was Opium.

Opium was a drug that was grown in India and was used to make heroin and morphine. At first the Chinese traded with them and they thought that Opium was good for healing people when they got sick, until alot of Chinese people were getting sick. That was when the Chinese Government outlawed the import of drugs. The British wasn't happy with that because they wanted more tea.

The Opium War took place mostly at sea where the British had steampowered gunboats which made a bigger advantage over the Chinese's out-dated boats. The result of this war was that British won this war.

After the Opium War the Chinese signed a peace treaty in 1842 which was called The Treaty of Nanjing. This treaty gave Britian the Island of Hong Kong.

"The White Man's Burden"

Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865 he was born in Bombay, India. Rudyard Kipling was best known for his book, The Jungle Book, and The Second Jungle Book.

"The White Man's Burden was written by an English poet Rudyard Kipling poem appeared in 1899 just as the Philippine Republic declared war on the US.

The White Man's Burden I think still exist in the US and still exist today because a new breed is sent out and everything starts over again.

"The Scramble For Africa"

"The Scramble For Africa" would be when every country fought for Africa.

In this picture the the main European Countries who were involved in this scramble were Portugal, Italy, Germany, Great Britian, and France.

The new Imperialism occured 1880-1900 that was when the Europe Government was scrambling for land in Africa. The reason for all the countries to be scrambling for Africa was because, they all wanted to gain power and prestige. They also wanted lands in Africa because in Africa there is alot of fresh crops and goods that the other countries want. By taking over the land, they thought that they would have more power.


The Europeans scrambled Africa fast because they had more of their countries trying to scramble Africa. Also by 1914 the French had most of West Africa. Also by 1914 most of Africa's land was conquered by France and Great Britian.

The Scramble affected the Africa people because the Decision that had to been made were made in London, Paris, Lisbon, and other European capital not in Africa. Also the Scramble affected the Africa people by getting goods from Europe and having protection from other Africa tribe by the Europeans.

Film Lesson:"Mountains of the Moon"

In "Mountains of the Moon" the Europeans wanted to find the source of the Nile River. Some problems that the Europeans faced while trying to achieve their goal was that the African people attacked the European people which forced the Europeans to go back.

Once the Europeans came back to Africa they made trades with Africa and asked them to help them find the source of the Nile River.

They traveled far and got sick they eventually made it to what they claimed was the source of the Nile and they called it "Lake Victoria" The reason why they called this lake, Lake Victoria because the current Queen at that time was Queen Victoria.

The Europeans had technological advantage over the Africans because they had guns and the Africans didn't.

It was easy for the Europeans to conquer Africa because the third time that the Europeans went into Africa, the Europeans had more of a technological advantage over the African people.