The Opium Wars

The Opium Wars was the very first drug war in history.  It began when the Chinese government officials began their anti-opium campaign.  China's population were becoming over addicted to opium which hurt China's economy, people, and pride.  After the Chinese government began their anti-Opium Campaign,  The British were angered and were afraid that their economy and trade would be harshly affected.  Therefore they looked forward to the only solution, war.  When the Chinese government officials denied stopping their anti-opium campaign, the British sent out gun-ships and destroyed Chinese coastal cities.  

Great Britain of course won the Opium Wars against China.  The British had better warfare technology that China had not caught up to at the time.  After China was defeated, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, and also the British supplementary Treaty of Bogue in 1843.

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 invaders, 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.

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.