Presentations for Units 7 and 8

This is the update for the last units we've studied. Sorry for the delay.

UNIT 7

UNIT 8

Presentation to study colonialism

This is the presentation for the first part of Unit 7:

Tuesday, 5th April 2016.

First of all I've to say thank you to Irene because yesterday she saved my life. I'll love you from here to the moon forever. ♥♥

And now yes, we start with the real contents. Today we have continued learning things about the Age of Empires. As you know (or maybe not), yesterday Paqui gave us a scheme for homework and today we have corrected it. She has asked some people, for example, Antonio and Lidia.

Our sheme has three parts but today we have included one more, we'll see in a minute.
The first part is the causes of the Age of Empires. There are three, the economic reasons (search for cheaper raw materiales, workers, etc and sell manufactured products), the demographic reasons (emigration and encouraged by the goverments to reduce the excess of poupulation) and political reasons (control of strategic places and gain international prestige).

Well, the big countries had big ambitions and tried to conquer as many amount of countries as they could. And now we arrive to the second part of the scheme: justification. The Europeans had to justify themselves and their acts, so they said that they were good and charitable people. The said that they had the responsability of civilizing the least developed territories of the colonies (that's the white man's heavy burden) but this was a bad excuse based on racism.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:The_white_mans_burden.gif

I think you should visit this webpage because there are a lot of pictures or drawings that can explain this much better, and they worth it: http://reverseracism.tumblr.com/post/123902807268/contra-puntal-take-up-the-white-mans-burden

The third part of the sheme is: Attitudes towards Colonialism but we haven't corrected it, so if you didn't do it yesterday, now you can because THIS IS THE HOMEWORK FOR THURSDAY.

And finally but not less important, we have talk about Social Darwinism (this is the part we have added). 

https://plus.google.com/106787507362117129968/posts

As you know, this theory is based on Darwinism, and evolutive theory formulated by Charles Darwin. Some people adapted this theory to the society, and "classified" everybody into "races". Of course, some races were better than other, and the best of them was the white people.

They classified the people depending on their skin's colour or their eye's size. 

https://mstartzman.pbworks.com/w/page/34920056/Social%20Darwinism%20(sixth)
/// https://economicstheorywiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Darwinism+(Herbert+Spencer,+Andrew+Carnegie)?responseToken=f091388166969b744e1dc31a771933ad

Social Darwinists also defended eugenics. This is similar to selective breeding, they tried to obtain pure individuals by eliminating those who weren't "normal". 

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/586598563924934658

So today we have discussed about this. Some people in the class think that races in the human being exist, while some others think that this is not true. Well, I respect the opinion of everybody but from my point of view I think that races don't exist. I repeat: RACES DON'T EXIST.  Everybody, either from Russia, Morocco, China or Argentina have the same DNA but as they live in different places their skin, eyes, hair and culture change. And this is completely normal. Diversity is the most beautiful thing we can find in our world so shut up racists, I am a person, I don't have any race.

DO YOU WANT MORE? :)

NEW VOCABULARY:

Eugenics: Eugenesia

Flaw: Defecto

Flawless: Sin defectos

White man's heavy burden: La pesada carga del hombre blanco.

Faithfully: Lucía♥

Presentation of the Age of Empires

For the impatient students:

 

Presentation for Unit 5

Here you have  the presentation we are going to use for Unit 5. It includes the following contents:

- The unifications of Italy and Germany

- The Age of Empires and colonialism

Some cartoons about the Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary

These are some cartoons about Monroe Doctrine (America for the Americans). The USA are personified as Uncle Sam: 

Source: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-monroe-doctrine-cartoon-granger.html

Source: http://www.bookdrum.com/books/blood-meridian/1334/bookmark/158348.html

http://americaeantiamericanismo.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/cose-lantiamericanismo-perche-studiarlo/

Source: http://alannahardingmaz.blogspot.com.es/2013/03/2-political-cartoons-from-19-century.html

Source: http://hseuspics.wikispaces.com/Era+of+Good+Feelings+and+the+end+of+the+Common+Man

Source: http://www.expat-chronicles.com/2011/10/monroe-doctrine-an-overview/

Source: http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects05/las/19thmain.html

And the following ones are about Theodore Roosevelt's Corollary and his Big Stick Policy, which defended the intervention of the USA if the interest of the country (rather the USA companies) were in danger. In most of the cartoons President Roosevelt is represented with a big stick 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Corollary

Source: http://seventhgradehistory.wikispaces.com/Spanish+American+War

Source: http://seatosea.wikispaces.com/Unit+Assessment

Source: http://www.quia.com/jg/1532420list.html

Source: http://academic.mu.edu/matthew/hist071/Hist071fall07/lectures/week06lecture.html

Expansion and the beginning of the USA imperialism

The following are some interesting  resources to learn more about the expansion of the USA to the Pacific, following the Manifest Destiny policy, that we' ll study tomorrow. The different governments of the USA promoted the expansion of the country to the Pacific (Westward expansion) and used different methods to annex terrirories: 

- Expulsion or extermination of the native inhabitants (Indian tribes). Here you have more information: 

http://www.operationmorningstar.org/genocide_of_native_americans.htm

- Purchase of land to other nations:  Louisiana territory was bought to France by 15 million dollars in 1803.  Florida was ceded by Spain in 1819 in exchange for 5 million dollars not paid, because they were used to pay USA citizens' claims against the Spanish authorities. The South of present states of Nevada and New Mexico was bought to Mexico by 5 million dollars in 1853 (Gadsden Purchase). And Alaska was bought to Russia by 7.2 million dollars in 1867. 

- Wars against other countries, the United Kingdom (1812-1815), Mexico (1845-1848) and Spain (1898) mainly 

And these are some interactive maps to learn the process of expansion of the USA in a visual way. The second and the third maps also include narration. Click on the images to play them: 

Here you have two more interactive maps about the same topic: 

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US09-01.html

http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome07/02d-westward_trails-oregon_demo.php

And this is a map of the USA territorial expansion to the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea: 

 Source: http://pages.uoregon.edu/kimball/ggr.frn.MPR.gnr.htm#1898:+;US

An interactive map of the Spanish- American War in 1898. Click on the image to play the map: 

And finally, a good link to go in depth into the USA  imperialism: 

https://shprs.clas.asu.edu/american_imperialism

Khartoum, an example of colonialism in Africa

I´ve found the film we´ve talked about on Youtube, just in case anyone wants to have a look on it. It's about an episode of the British domination of Sudan: the Sudanese Arabs, headed by Muhammmad Ahmad, know as the Mahdi, revolted againts the British rule and started fighting for their independence. The British government sent an army commanded by General Charles Gordon to defend the city of Khartoum. The film shows the Western version of the story: Gordon is represented as a hero and the Mahdi and his supporters are depicted as zealots. 

Here you have a short review of the film: 

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/media/war/khartoum.htm

Resources to study colonialism

A short definition of imperialism, its causes and consequences:

Colonialism in 10 minutes: this short video includes the causes of colonialism, the explanation of the "civilizing mission (the justification the Europeans gave to colonialism ) by Noam Chomsky, the scramble for Africa and the tactics used by the Europeans to control territory and the difficulties to reach real independence. The video focuses on the case of Uganda. 

The scramble for Africa and Berlin Conference and the consequences of colonialism:

This last documentary is longer, but worth being watched, because it includes the process of independence of some African countries: 

And these are some interactive maps: 


- World colonial empires in 1900: 

http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/wps/media/objects/2428/2487068/int_map/imp_0048.html

- The scramble for Africa and the decolonization process: 

http://pages.uoregon.edu/maphist/english/AF/AF01-01.html

http://www.brown.edu/Research/AAAH/map.htm

http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/716/733716/Int_Maps/map26.1.dcr

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073406929/student_view0/chapter20/interactive_maps.html#africa

- The British colonial empire in the 19th century and the control of trade routes: 

http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome05/index.php

- Imperialism in Asia: 

http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0078750202/195006/map33.html

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073406929/student_view0/chapter20/interactive_maps.html#asia

More about Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism was a perversion of Charles Darwin's ideas. The theory of evolution developed by  Darwin explains that the survivors of every species are the best adapted to the environment (the best fitted). Darwin´s ideas in Biology extended to Social Sciences. Social Darwinism adapted the theory of evolution to explain how societies work. The theorists of this current considered that there were better fitted "races" (the "white" people") and that was the explanation to their superiority and their right to control the inferior "races".  Competition between the different "races" would determine the hegemony of the victorious ones and the submission of those considered to be inferior. 

Social Darwinism was used to classify people into different "races", depending on the colour of people´s skin or the size of their heads. 

Classification created by Nazi doctor Eugen Fischer in 1921

Source: http://www.ushmm.org/museum/press/kits/download.php?content=deadly_medicine&image=un590

Social Darwinists also defended eugenics, something similar to selective breeding, in order to get "pure" individuals, by sterilizing first and eliminating later the people who had any physical of psychic flaw. These ideas were used in different countries to sterilize those considered to be inferior (mentally or phisically disabled people, aboriginals) and sustained the Nazi extermination policy during World War 2.
.

Brochure of the American Eugenics Society

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/06/01/136849387/found-in-the-archives-americas-unsettling-early-eugenics-movement

Social Darwinism has also been used to base the reduction of economic help for the poor. New liberal policies defend that if the poor receive subsidies for food, health or education, they won't do anything to improve their lives 

Source: http://ragecomics.com/c/66wx/victorian-england-social-darwinism

Source: http://handthatfeedsyou.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/social-darwinism-explained.html

All these ideas come from an interested interpretation of Darwin´s evolution theory. But Darwin wouldn't have agreed with the social Darwinists: he thought that not only physical features evolved through natural selection, but also moral sentiments and co-operation and altruism would also belong to human evolution. The following cartoon shows Darwin expelling eugenists and ultra-liberals from his house. 

Source: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/misconceps/IIIBmight.shtml

If you want to read more about all this, here you have a very good link: 

http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-01-06.htm

Source: http://www.encognitive.com/node/18636

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/blackorwhite.html