"The Scramble for Africa"

The Scramble for Africa, which began in 1881 was about how European leaders divided up the African land amongst themselves. The African people didn't have any say about it at all. As a result Africa suffered from tribalism. The new African nations contain different tribes which causes tension, and civil wars among the people. Many European countries were involved with this scramble including Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal. The Europeans wanted power and thought that owning more land than everyone else meant they had a lot of it. The Europeans knew that Africa was wealthy in natural resources that turned into manufactured goods and made a bundle of money. Great Britain gained an important port for the sea route to India in South Africa. France's main interest was trade in West Africa. Trading stations had been set up on the West African coasts to deal in slaves and be transported to the Americas. Europeans were able to dominate Africa easily because they had better weapons then them. Africa only had handmade spears, and sticks while the Europeans had guns and more sophisticated weapons.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

Some of the hardships the Europeans had to face exploring Africa was not having enough water or supplies, not being able to speak the native language of the people, and not having a map to guide them. The source of the nile river was named after the British Queen because two explorers (Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke) were searching for it for Europe and allegedly discovered it. The African people knew about the lake all before the Europeans did. The Europeans didn't care what the African people thought and named it anyway. It made no sense for a lake all the way in Africa to be named after a Queen in England. One of the advantages that the Europeans had over the Africans was the fact that they had weapons. The Africans had handmade spears and sticks but the Europeans had guns and knives. The Europeans had the upper hand because of their weapons even though the Africans might have outnumbered them.

The Meji Restoration of Japan

In 1853 four American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo to request that Japan open up their ports for trade with the U.S. The Japanese leaders saw these large, sail less ships and were intimidated by them because they felt that if they didn't agree forceful actions would occur. So on March 31,1854 a treaty was signed between the United States and Japan that effectively opened two ports to the United States. Along with the warships, Perry brought a toy train. This really fascinated the Japanese because they never have seen technology like that before. Not everyone in Japan agreed with the treaty and it ultimately led to the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. However Emperor Meiji was restored to power and later set Japan on a path of modernization.
The Meiji Era
The Japanese experienced a lot of economic change during the Meiji era. Emperor Meji sent people to different countries to get ideas for their new government. Millions of people were free to choose their occupation without restrictions. The new government had more advances in technology and industrial work. Because of this, railways, shipping lines, and the telephone system were created. The government also introduced an education system that allowed everyone to attend public school.
Archipelago
Japan is an archipelago. An archipelago is a chain or group of islands surrounded by water. The Archipelago extends from north to south along the eastern coast of the Eurasian Continent. The archipelago consists of more than 3,000 islands, including the four Main Islands (Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū).

Karl Marx and Communism

The idea of Communism is that everything is owned by the government so that there would be no arguing and fighting among the people. In communist governments people get paid the same amount of money. Karl Marxs' idea of communism is when everybody is treated equally, social classes don't exist, and everything is owned by the people. Marx felt that communism was the best type of government because all things would be shared and that would bring peace to everyone. Karl Marx felt that the bad guys were the bourgeoisie. They were the business owners that bossed everyone around. They were always looking for ways to earn more money and trying to get ahead. Marx saw the proletariat as the good guys. They were the working class. It seemed like they would never get ahead in the world because the bad guys wouldn't let them. The proletariat were getting taken advantage of.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx was best known as a 19th century revolutionary. His ideas were very influential and other countries through the years praticed them, however not in the same pure form Marx invented. Karl Marx felt that the Industrial Revolution allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. The industrial revolution inspired Marx to invent communism because he thought the working class was doomed to forever work for low wages. He believed that since there were more workers than owners, the workers would eventually get fed up, start a revolution and take over. Marx did encourage the workers to start a revolution. Communism to Marx meant that everyone would make the same amount of money. Society would produce only what it needed. Everyone would be treated the same and there would be no social classes. Also there would be no private ownership, everything would be owned by the state or the government. This was known as the pure form of communism.

Nationalism and The Creation of Italy

Nationalism is when a group of people who share a common culture(language) and history are proud and are willing to sacrifice for their country. I am somewhat nationalistic because I'm proud of the country I'm from, I celebrate American holidays, I follow the American culture, and I recite the pledge of allegiance in school, however I wouldn't join the army.

The Nation Of Italy
Italy was broken up into provinces/small states that were ruled by other foreign countries. The provinces of Venetia and Lombardy were ruled by Austria. The Kingdom of The two Sicilies were ruled by the Spanish. The Italians were growing weary of being ruled by foreign countries so something had to be done. With the help of Camillo di Cavour a Sardinian prime minister who provoked war with Austria and won two victories with the French-Sardinian army gained power over northern Italy. In 1860 a small army of Italian nationalists led by Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Sicily. In an election voters gave Garibaldi the ok to unite the southern areas he conquered with the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. In 1870 Italian forces took over the last area known as the Papal States and from then on it was part of Italy.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

Simon Bolivar was known as the liberator of South America because he helped countries get their independance from Spain. In 1814 Bolivar captured Bogota,Colombia. On May 14, 1821 Bolivar won Venezula's independance with the help of his revolutionary army. In 1822 Bolivar became dictator of Peru. The upper part of Peru was seperated into a different country and was named Bolivia in Simon Bolivars' honor. Bolivar also helped Ecuador, and Panama to their independence. This was the beginning of the famous "Admirable Campaign." Simon Bolivar was inspired by the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Enlightenment thinkers. He saw how they came together and changed what they felt was unfair treatment. Simon Bolivar wanted liberty and equality that the Americans and French had fought towards for his people.