The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars were a series of wars fought between China and Great Britain in the 19th century. It was started because the British would not stop giving opium to Chinese citizens. Opium was a drug made from the juice of poppy seeds. Chinese tea, porcelain, and silk were very popular in Western countries. However, British merchants wanted to balance out the trade with the Chinese because the Chinese were self-sufficient and required no goods from the British so the British had to use gold and silver to pay for Chinese trade. The British decided to give the Chinese opium mixed with tobacco to promote opium smoking. This weakened a large amount of the Chinese population. Also a large amount of resources were flowing out of China to pay for the opium. When the Chinese discovered opium smoking in 1729, they tried to prohibit the sale of opium and tried to shut down opium smoking houses. However the British merchants were still able to sell opium because they bribed Chinese officials. After numerous threats from China to stop trade, the British decided to attack numerous Chinese ports in 1840. This started the First Opium War which resulted in a British victory and the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 which opened numerous Chinese ports and gave Hong Kong to Britain. In 1856, the Second Opium War began because of disputes over former treaties and ended with another British victory.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

When Europeans were exploring Africa during the 1800's they had faced many hardships. The obvious one was the fact that they had never seen most of the land so they could easily get lost. They also didn't know what kind of wildlife or hostile tribes of people were there. There was also malaria which was a very fatal disease in warm areas at the time. Many volunteers in the exploration parties would leave or steal things. There were many dangerous insects which could cause serious harm if people did not put up their mosquito nets.

Lake Victoria is a lake located in Central Africa that is named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The first European to discover the lake was John Hanning Speke. It seems strange that the lake is named after a European Queen because it still has that name years after the nations of Africa gained their independence from European rule.

The Europeans were able to take Africa over very easily because they had much more powerful weapons. The machine gun enabled soldiers to kill enemy troops with ease. Also quinine was discovered to be a cure for malaria so Europeans no longer were killed by it.