Mr. Crandall's History Class Blog

21. What motivated Great Britain to develop the opium trade? How did the opium trade affect China? How did Britain’s opium penetrate China’s strict trade restrictions?

The British needed something to trade to China. The British wanted to trade the opium for China’s tea and porcelain. The opium trade made China’s society very unstable, which is kind of a given since over half of the population was addicted to the drug. The British were able to ship their drugs through almost all of the major rivers in the country.

8.What did Darwin observe about both animals and humans on his tour with the navy? How did these observations lead him to develop his theories of evoulution?

Darwin observed many similarities between animals and humans on his tour with the navy. One that helped him jumpstart his evolution theories was that most animals had similiar bone structures in the animals’ paw,wing,etc.This similiarity was that most animals on the Galapagos had pretty much four fingers and a thumb like humans do. Darwin also noticed that some animals that are in a kingdom could easily have evolved from one being due to adaptation or unnecessary traits. Darwins theories however opposed the church’s view on creationism and also contributed to enlightenment ideas. This new way of were we very well came from made people think twice before choosing evolutionism or creationism.

Let’s see if this stupid thing works…

OH!!! Thank God! Finally, I have the pleasure to once again post on the blog.

2.How was the new power of steam reflected in the art, music, and literature of the 19th century?

During the 19th century, steam was viewed as romantic, inspiring many piecxes of art. J. M. W.Turners painting called “Rain, Steam, and Speed” is a well known work of art inspired by the power of steam. Felix Mendelssohn created music which symbolized his journey to Scotland on a steamship. Charles Dickens wrote great literature describing an atlantic crossing on a steamship, one of the first writers to do so.

Question 9: how did darwin apply his theories to the tragedies he experienced in his own life?

Since Darwin married his cousin and had kids with her his kids were sick. They struggled to survive, and one child, Anne,died. After his child died Darwin was not sure that God even exsisted anymore, he beleived God would not let such an awful thing happen. He no longer beleived in Christianity. He began to beleive more in his theorey of evolution and that the stongest must survive and his child was not one of the strongest so she did not survive.

Question 15: What role did the buffalo play in the lives of native americans, how did white settlers impact it, what happened to the buffalo?

The Plains Indians depended on the buffalo for almost everything they needed. They used meat for food obviously, fur and skin for clothes and bedding, and bones for making tools and weapons. When the white settlers came, they adopted buffalo hunting as a sport. They killed as many as possible just for fun. The wild buffalo population decreased from 4 million (or something) to less than a thousand. Because the buffalo were now almost extinct, the indians did not have their main source of food, clothes or tools.

11. Darwin kept his theories to himself because he didn’t want to be casted out of society and racked with anxiety he had to publish his theories because someone else came to the same conclusion as Darwin did.

Robespierre eats cake.

#4
What other new inventions resulted from the steam engine’s success?

An invention that resulted from the steam engine would be tunnels through the mountainside that allowed trains to get from one place to another in a less amount of time. Another improvement that occeured in the 19th century would be electricity. As a way of communication people used telegrams that required electric lines throughout the country.

16. What role did disease play in the destruction of the Native American population?

Diseases such as small pox and measles proved to be deadly against the Native American populations that were brought from Europeans traveling across the Atlantic ocean. Since the Native Americans had no natural immunity , it devastated populations, disrupted the social and cultural fabric of the native American population, and made them very disorganized. High mortality rates were often, and sometimes entire tribes would become entirely extinct. Diseases gave the upper hand to the United States during its westward expansion known as manifest destiny. I think this is sufficient enough information.

Question 20: Why, according to the segment, was China self-confident at the beginning of the nineteenth century? Why was Britain able to gain an edge in the balance of trade?

China was self-confident because its economy was the world’s biggest, the population was over 400 million, and China was basically rich. Britain gained an advantage in trade when it mass produced opium, grown in India, and sold the opium to China. The opium created a dependence on the drug, so China had to get more and more, using money to get the opium, while Britain prospered.

It’s nice to have the blog working again.

Dagnabbit, you youngin’, you beat me to the punch, Kev. D:<
Also, STOP TAKING MY QUESTIONS.
Anyway, ha-hey! THE BLOG LIVES AGAIN.

Q #10: What are the premises of Darwin's theories? How did Darwin describe the process of evolution?

A: In a brief summary, Darwin's theory was evolution and survival of the fittest. In essence, all the evidence he presented contradicted the church and the beliefs of nations for almost 2000 years, give or take a few centuries. In Darwin's book, "The Origin of Species" he published, he went on to explain that man evolved over generations through natural selection, or survival of the fittest. Diversity of life was by common descent, which came about by patterns of evolution. Aaand, in effort not to refute religious beliefs, I'll stop there.

#17 How did the railroad contribute to the patterns of expansion in the nintenth century in the United States? What was “manifest destiny,” and did this doctrine affect patterns of expansion?

The railroad contributed greatly to expansion westward in the U.S. Wih the new found railroad, people could make the trip cross country in mabye a few days, then the original few weeks. This new pattern can also be atrributed to Maifest Destiny. This was a doctirne in beliving that it was a religous right or, their destiny to expand westward and do whatever was nessacry to take that land because, that land was already supposed to belong to them.

These videos are unrelated to the discussion topic, but I thought they were interesting and , above all, funny.

http://www.youtube.com/show?p=s-Gqsjg9y-8

The buffalo to the Plain Indians were the life blood, providing all of the items the Indians needed. When the white settlers came to the plains they introduced the horse to the Indians so the Indians utilized the horse to hunt the buffalo. Also the white settlers hunted the buffalo as a sport. The population of the buffalo before the white settlers was around 10 million then being reduced to around 10,000. The Plain Indians then had to rely on the white settlers for food, tools, and clothing.

never mind Jamie had it

14. The new settlers of the North American continent used the idea of Manifest Destiny or that it is the lords idea of migrating East to West. The new settlers were not very fond of the plains but they made a new sport, bison shooting. As they headed more west the settlers discovered gold and silver(Ya!). The settlers did not like the Indians and used a since of social darwinism because they had inferior technology. The settlers had wars with the Indians and moved them to areas that nothing was at. The settlers also tried to exterminate the indians with disease also.

So, I found this and I there’s really no place to put it because it’s so general.
But they should just seriously show us this video in class and BEHOLD, WORLD HISTORY IN 6 MINUTES.

Caution: it is a bit crude, but overall hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76d6JTLCc9g&NR=1

One-Billionth Scale USS Enterprise

In what certainly has to be the smallest scale ever for a science-fiction ship model, two scientists have constructed the USS Enterprise in a one-billionth scale.

The scale model of the Enterprise is so tiny, that it can only be seen by an electron microscope.

Scientists Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology, located in Japan, used a focused ion beam to cut out the model, using a process called chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

The CVD process used phenanthrene gas to etch the tiny 8.8 micrometer USS Enterprise.

http://blogs.kusd.org/scrandall/2010/02/20/discussion-topic-11-the-19th-century/#comments

Question #3. What were the short and long-term consequences of James Watt’s invention of the steam engine?

James Watt improved the steam engine which helped the Industrial Revolution. His machines were used for coal mining, textile manufactoring, and trasnsportaion at first. The long term consequences that James Watt made are today’s manufacturing industry. Without James Watt’s improvements to the steam engine we wouldn’t be able to mass produce things so rapidly.

Hmm. I just noticed that the link I put up for the “One-Billionth Scale USS Enterprise” was wrong… it SHOULD be this.

http://scifiwire.com/2010/03/awesome-1-billionth-scale.php

Also, I couldn’t find the “Mitchell and Webb Look: Bronze Age”, but I did find this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13RhSc-DaOI&NR=1

Q: #23… What led to the Opium Wars between China and Great Britain? What were the consequences of the Opium Wars, and how did they affect China in the long term?

A: The Opium Wars happened between the years of 1839 and 1842. Britain sent Opium over seas to China knowing that was the thing China did not make themselves. After all, China was very self-sufficient and created all of their own products. The war started when China hired a man by the name of Lin to start anti-opium campaigns to rid China of the product. When 2,000 chests were detroyed, the war broke out. China got defeated but they called it quits with the Treaty of Nanking. China now must except little imports and foreigners now have many rights upon entering China.