British Imperialism in Africa paragraph

To group: This is my paragraph!

Firstly, a main cause of British imperialism in Africa was the scramble for Africa, or in other words, the race for new colonies in Africa and the things brought with it. Due to extreme nationalism, the countries of Europe considered their civilization and way of life to be superior to all others. Britain was currently the greatest power in Europe so they claimed vast territorial expansions such as South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, and Rhodesia, just to name a few. The emergence of new political thoughts in the late 19th century, particularly Social Darwinism, increased the feelings that the European nations had a duty to bring civilization and religion to the "savages" of Africa. This made imperialism acceptable for the whole of Europe. Of course, Britain as being the most advanced country from having the first industrial revolution, took this to heart and supported the Christian missionaries politically and even militarily because the missionaries usually went too far. To add to the effects was Rudyard Kipling's peom, "The White Man's Burden" in which the British writer explains the responsibility of white people to govern non-white people, so that apparently it served as justification of British imperialism in Africa. Overall, the desire for new colonies in Africa and the deployment of Christian missionaries resulted in more harm done than the so-called good intentions of the British.

MLA: I have posted MLA on the other 2 blog posts summarizing my sources. 

British Imperialism in Africa 2

For the second post on my paper, I read an online article detailing social darwinism and its connection with imperialism and racism. Social Darwinism is the based off of Darwin's theory of evolution involving natural selection or survival of the fittest. The difference between Social Darwinism and Darwinism is that Social Darwinism is applied to humans or a race. This is what caused the idea that races are superior to other ones which eventually brought about the sense of extreme nationalism and desire for your own country to be the best. This aided the justification of Imperialism so that the British could do what they wanted to without having to be questioned about the morals or ethics of what they, or any other European nation, was doing. 

MLA:

"Social Darwinism." MSN Encarta. 2008. Microsoft Corporation. 22 Mar 2009 .

British Imperialism in Africa Causes

Due to the fact that I cannot upload my thinking maps, I will just summarize what I read. I recently read about British imperialism in Africa in my AP European History book. The section describes how Britain was the most advanced country in the whole of Europe at the time and that they had many things at their disposal. Also, it talked about how Britain participated in the "Scramble for Africa" which was the race for African Colonies. Britain desired a cape-to-cairo expansion of territory but it was blocked by Germany having some colonies between the south and the North. In addition, Nationalism was a cause of British Imperialism in Africa because it fueled the thought that your country was superior to all else and moreover all other races. This in turn increased racism and other thoughts of the late 19th century. Furthermore, the section explained Rudyard Kiplings, "The White Man's Burden" which is one of his most well known poems because it deploys a sense of responsibility to govern the non-white people of Africa.

MLA:

Kagan, Donald, and Steven Ozment. The Western Heritage. 9the ed. Upper Sadle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007. (note The Western Heritage is supposed to be underlined not in bold, this does not let me underline).

Blog #15 03/22/09

For this blog, it is about someone overcoming odds. The online article I read, Overcoming Odds: Brothers Graduate from Dartmouth, Build Clinic in Native Kenyan Village, talks about two brothers Milton and Fred Ochieng, from the rural Lwala village of Kenya, and how they overcame huge odds. They were able to both graduate from the presitgious Dartmouth College and build a health clinic in their rural villiage through persistance, hope, and effort. Orginially, it seemed impossible for them to raise the sufficient amount of funds, but with awarness from across the U.S. it became possible. Today Fred and Milton still hope to expand health care, providing it to other areas. Also, they have funded 23 Kenyan teens to attend high school! I was very inspired when I read this story because they came from literally no where and have made such an impact on the world today. The hope they had was massive because they lost both of their parents, but, somehow managed to move on in their lives which I could not have done easily. I think that if they could expand their aims to helping other rural villages, that would hugely benefit everyone in rural Kenya villages. People like Fred and Milton are hard to come by which is why if there were more of them, image how great the world would be.

MLA:

Delos, Robin. "Overcoming Odds: Brothers Graduate from Dartmouth, Build Clinic in Native Kenyan Village." Diverse. 10 Mar 2009 <http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12332.shtml>.

Blog #14 03/18/09

For the text about love, I wanted to blog about the love between animals and their owners or companions. I think that there is a type of special bond that makes there be love between them. In the Article The Bond Between The Animals and Humans, it discuses how animal and human emotions are different because their frontal lobes are not fully developed and never will be which makes not not able to be hateful, but loyal just as a young child is. This is why animals will love you with all their hearts no matter who you are. But, on the other hand adults and teenagers frontal lobes are pretty much fully developed which make them remember their mixed emotions. Also, Animals do not connect love and hate relationships which is why they can get over things so quickly. In my opinion, I think that it would be great if humans frontal lobes were not overly developed because then there would not be as much crime or heartbreak in the world today. But, it is good to have developed frontal lobes because if someone abuses a person, they will remember and learn to seek help or not let it happen again. Since animals have basic emotions, people can treat them as a sibling or child and this is where a bond develops. Also, I think that since animals are loyal and curious, they make great companions even though they make mistakes. 

Blog #13 03/15/09

For the text about war, I chose to blog about the Nigerian Civil War between 1967-1970 because the book Things Fall Apart is in Nigeria. The conflict was cause mainly because the south part of Nigeria tried to become independent of Nigeria and become the Republic of Biafra. By around the 1900's Britain formed an area out of West Africa that had many diverse groups and called it Nigeria. Of course, they did not think of how these groups were to become one! The three main groups were the Igbo, the Hausa-Fulani, and the Yoruba. The Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani had similar political systems and were more of Mulim/Islamic descent. Their main goal was to keep Islamic conservative values, which in turn, caused them to think of economic and social change as a bad thing. I believe that this shows how people have to change and not be stubborn otherwise they will suffer. On the other hand, the Igbo were more democratic with mostly everyone participating in decisions of the clan. When the Christian missionaries arrived, they focused on the Igbo people because they were the ones who wanted to advance more in society. Due to oil reserves being found in the Niger River delta in the southeastern part of Nigera, this caused the northeners to fear of being cut off from revenue. The south feared that the north would tear their oil strips from them. The southeastern Igbo dominated part resulted in the secession of it to be the Republic of Biafra. Unfortunately, it was not really recognized as a Republic. I think that if all had went well, there would not have been as big of a civil war. That would have saved many lives. The Nigerian government then tried to retake the "Republic of Biafra" which caused the start of the war in 1967. They got some cities but the Biafrrans took the Mid-Western region. Eventually, the Nigerian govt retook the midwest but when they tried to cross the Nigerian river, they lost three times. I think that the government should have just recognized the rights of the Republic to have their own county, but of course that didn't happen.  Later, the Nigerian Government blockaded the Republic. The blockade caused widespread hunger, starvation, and a hopeless world filled with terror and violence. Widespread media gave help to the Biafrans. In due time, the Nigerian government took over the last city and the war was over. The aftermath caused a bad image of nigeria, death, and money. Furthermore, I feel bad because the Igbo's were not allowed many spots in the new governments which has lead to their decline contrary to what people said at the time. I am going to see if a civil war is going to come into play in the book we are currently reading. That would make things very interesting. But, even though the Nigerian Government should not have been so harsh, I don't think that it was right for the southeastern part just to decide to become independent when they had the best natural resources. So, it was essentially a two way deal with both sides being equally responsible. Reading this article has made me open up my mind to other parts of the world that you never really think to care of, but now I am interested in what types of conflict is going on in other parts of africa and the like. 

MLA:

Atofarati, Abubakar. "The Nigerian Civil War, Causes, Strategies, And Lessons Learnt." 1992. 14 Mar 2009 . 

Blog #12 3/11/09

For this blog, I chose to blog about new imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries because that was the time where imperialism was more of a nation-wide phenomena, prompted by racism and nationalism all due to the 2nd industrial revolution and the modernization of the world. Also, this will focus on the imperialism brought by European country's. Imperialism is defined in the textbook as, "the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by establishing economic and political hegemony over other nations." Of course, New Imperialism, can be defined as European expansion that moved forward with great speed, and participation in it came to be regarded as necessary for a great power, which, most country's in Europe desired to have. Of course, before you understand the new imperialism, you have to understand the causes of its coming about. The innovative and explosive developments in the late 19th centuries (2nd industrial revolution) science, technology, industry, agriculture, communication, transportation, and weapons provided the main sources of power. Due to the fact that European nations had the support of their country and media, this gave them the motivation and ability to do it. Another main cause of this newfound imperialism, was the founding of social-darwinism and jingoism. Social Darwinism is "survival of the fittest" applied to humans and was the idea that helping out the weak is bad, so dominate the inferior which gave justification to new imperialism. Jingoism is closely related with that idea, but it is more a kind of nationalism that says your country is the best, which also gave justification to new imperialism. As a result of these new ideas, some argued that the "advanced" European country's had a duty to bring higher civilization to the people in need of saving for both religion and personal desires. An example of a ruler who defines this is Leopold II of Belgium. He supported imperialism for economic wealth and exploitation in the Congo of Africa. Although african's were treated as inferior people, nation's across the world were disgusted by the cruelty in which Leopold ruled and exploited just for personal gains. He was in the Congo for rubber products. Getting rubber is a strenous activity which requires mass laborers to sap thin vines and carefully pour it onto bodies until it hardens. Then, someone rips off the dried by-product off the person, which is very painful. Leopold had no idea how long it took, so he executed people for not making enough in time. I personally think that this is some of the worst treatment of humans, even worse than the holocaust. How can someone be so selfish and greedy as to not care about the harm they do to others? Of course, Britain was equally bad. They were the leaders in New Imperialism gains as the controlled all of India, South Africa, and holdings in China. They had sorts of enclosure camps, similar to concentration camps, were they kept Afrikaners in they compound until they finished labor. This was very horrific to the people in South Africa because many of them were descendents of Dutch nationality! I am outraged with what nations at the time could get away with, especially with the mass amounts of media at their disposal! Eventually, nations were returned to former rule, but only at the realization that Human Rights were being violated. I wish that people would have realized how much corruption had been going on so that the people being mistreated could not have had to endure so much in such a long amount of time. This just goes to show that human nature is greedy, selfish, and unconcerning to some, but fortunately not all. Hopefully, in our future the governments will seek to stop all corruption and disregard to human rights. 

MLA: 

Kagan, Donald. AP Edition, The Western Heritage. 7th. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc, 2007. 

AP European History class notes. (Edina High School). 

blog #11 3/8/09

For the global issues blog, I chose to blog about the global issue called Biodiversity. Biodiversity goes hand in hand with climate change and global warming, two new imminent threats to our society caused by humans and inefficient use of products, and less social conscience. Due to global warming, habitats are destroyed which causes the extinction of many species as can be shown with the polar bears and other animals that live in the Arctic. I believe that if global warming could be curved, biodiversity could be saved even if a little bit because every day scientists are discovering new types of species. In general, Biodiversity refers to the variety of life forms in our planet: the different plants, animals and microorganims, and the ecosystems they form.  You might ask, why is biodiversity in our life important? Its not like anyone would mind if those pesky mosquitoes went away, would it? But in all reality it does matter because every living organism in the planet contributes something special or important for the existence of a healthy planet and our own well being. . You may not be aware of the benefits biodiversity provides. Biodiversity provides us with so many benefits such as; food, medicinal product, wood, protection of water sources, and much more! As an example, honeybees provide many benefits to us. As said in the article, "One third of all our food- fruits and vegetables- would not exist without pollinators visiting flowers." Another problem facing biodiversity is extinction of species. The cause of this is that when there are not enough variety of genes for production, there is in-breeding which increase the chance of extinction. Because we destroy habitats for these species, they have a slim chance of being able to "interact with species with a large gene pool." I think that people and the government could do a better job in getting funding for the protection of biodiversity, but it is apparently a hard thing to try to make people want to "save worms and other species that many people do not know of." Also, since the . In addition, biodiversity increases ecosystem productivity because every type of species is just as important as the next. The contributions of Biodiversity and the importance of preserving the species that make it up can be described by, "At least 40 percent of the world's economy and 80 percent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change." As illustrated above, biodiversity clearly helps the world in ways many people do not appreciate. I for one, think that people should educate the world on this subject and show that, it's not only about the cute animals in danger of extinction that need saving, its the ones that do the work behind-the-scenes. Furthermore, I think that if the ecosystems deteriorate to a small amount, then the problems resulting can be very costly to reverse or undue. From this, I believe that the cost of the effects of endangering biodiversity is much more costly than the maintenance and sustainable development practices that could be used instead. So, next time choose paper instead of plastic, its the little things in life that add up, that can determine the fate of our world. 

MLA:

Shah, Anup. "Why is Biodiversity important? Who cares?" Global Issues. 14 June 2008. 8 Mar 2009. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares>.

picture website MLA:

"Global panel to tackle biodiversity crises." ABC News. 8 Mar 2009. .

Blog # 10 3/4/09

For the text about Holidays, I wanted to use the fourth of July as my holiday. The Fourth Of July is a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. The United States declared independence from Great Britain on this day, which was a huge deal because it let the U.S. be their own "person" and having to worry about complying with rules/regulations of the mother country. A fun fact is that the Declaration of Independence was actually passed on July 2, but was not made socially aware until the celebration day on the 4th. The Fourth of July is usually celebrated with the use of fireworks, parades, picnics, sporting events, politics, parties, and some types of concerts/fairs. My favorite part of the Fourth of July would have to be gathering with the family up at the lakehouse because we get to spend a whole weekend with relatives, make smores, and have fun. The night of the Fourth, we go out onto the dock and light off the small fireworks before the big lake firework show. Later, the fireworks display begins as the silk-like sky lights up with vibrant colors and obnoxiously loud bangs. All the kids ohh, ahh, and shout because of the overwhelming effect of the majestic fireworks. Soon after, we all go back to the house and light up the last of the sparklers in an attempt to relive the fun of that exact moment. An odd fact is that even though most Americans celebrate the fourth of july, they usually do not understand the real meaning for it, just like Christmas or Easter. I find this very appalling because why should almost every American celebrate the founding of this nation, when, in reality they don't even know what the Declaration is about! It is true that I am also a victim of my own criticism because I celebrate Easter when in fact I do not even know why it is a holiday. This goes to show that Holidays in general are used more than to celebrate a religious or cultural event, but as an excuse to celebrate and have fun.   

MLA:

"Independence Day July 4th." USA CITYLINK. 4 Mar 2009 .

                                                       (should be underlined but is not an option)