opium wars

During the opium wars England, and other European countries wanted to get the Tea from the Chinese. The Chinese did not want to trade with them because they were isolated from the rest of the world.China was a self-sufficient country and the Chinese did not want or need anything from Great Britain or any other foreign countries.When the British couldn't find any other products to trade with China they decide to mix opium with tobbaco to promote opium smoking.The British were sucsesssul, and sold nearly 2 million pound of opium in to China each year.Because of Opium large amount of Chinese population weakened. Almost 10% of Chinese people were smoking opium.When the government discovered the opium trade they set laws and illegalized the sell of opium in terms of smoking. However, it can be used for treatments. The punishment for selling opium would be banishment, or execution. However that did not stop the British from selling the highly addictive drug, because the government addiction were corrupted, and accepted bribes from the British.The war was called the Opium war because the British wanted to keep selling opium to China.The Opium War was the very first drug war. The war was from 1839 to 1842. it was a very intense war leading to the humilating defeat of china. the was was mainly about Great Britan and China. it all started when china introduced Tea to Great britain. Great Britain wanted to trade china for tea. china didnt want to, but they wanted to

"Mountains of the Moon"

The movie the mountains of the moon is about the trials 2 European explorer's faced in Africa Nile. The discovery of it would be the next biggest thing than when Columbus found America. But unlike Columbus who had a map but just didn't go the right way, Speke & Burton. The Nile is an important river that stretches throughout major parts of Africa. The two faced horrible problems along they way based on the movie. Things such as tribe wars, Disease and bug problems, theft, drought & a lot of hardships on the way to the base concerning the terrain and weather. Gaining the faith and trust of the people they hired,was also a problem. Some people would run away and steal their goods, and some would betray Speak and Burton while in the middle of their expedition.Finally,after about six months, the Europeans had found the source of the Nile. It was the third largest lake in the world and they named it "Lake Victoria".The primary technological advantage that Europeans had over African people was guns and powerful weapons, where as Africans carried only spears. The Europeans also had tools such as microscopes and telescopes. The Europeans were civilized, the Africans lived in tribes and had no government. All of this allowed the Europeans to eventually conquer Africa so easily. As you can see this is how many countries found a way to exploit Africa through its rich resources but very poor defense.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

Mathew Perry went to the coasts of Japan to trick the Japanese, pretending that he was "negotiating". Japan did not desire to trade with any other nation/country as they were in isolation. Commodore Perry wasn't negotiating as much as bulling Japan. He brought a naval force to Japan that did not use sails. He did this to impress the Japanese, and it worked. The Japanese had never seen anything like them.During the Meiji Restoration Era, the Japanese economy began to build up it's industrial base. It revised by basing itself on the western model. The Japanese government sent out investigators to learn the ways of European and American industries. In 1889, the Japanese government adopted a constitution based on the British and German models of parliamentary democracy. During this same period, railroads were constructed, a banking system was started and the samurai system was disbanded. Japan had successfully made the transition to a western style industrialized state. When the Japanese Constitution was adopted in 1889, Japan, was able to make the transition to a world power through its expansion of colonial holdings. Eventually the Japanese even learned to adapt and learn how to make things better such as the regular bomb into a torpedo from the air, such as the ones they used in pearl harbor. This shows the technology in japan and how the Japanese advanced through the Meiji restoration of japan