The Opium wars

Opium substance derived by collecting and drying the milky juice in the unripe seed pods of the opium Poppy, papaver somniferium. Opium varies in color from yellow to dark brown and has a characteristic odor and a bitter taste. With nearly 2 million pounds of opium being sold in China each year, opium weakened a large amount of the Chinese population. In the 19Th century, 10 percent of the Chinese population was smoking opium.
This also affected China economically, due to the large amount of resources, especially silver, flowing out of the country to pay for the opium. When the Chinese government first discovered opium smoking in the country in 1729, government promoted policies to prohibit the sale of opium for smoking, and shut down and banned opium-smoking houses. At the time, it became a very serious offense to sell opium for smoking purposes. It was classified in the same category as robbery and murder. The punishment was either banishment or execution.
Although the harsh punishments helped rid cities of local dealers and treat drug addicts, they did not stop British merchants from bringing in more opium to China. Because many Chinese government officials were corrupt and accepted bribes from British officials, they also became a part of the illegal opium trade. When the Chinese government discovered the British smuggling opium into China to sell, it was alarmed.
That was when Emperor Daoguang appointed Lin Tse-Hsua, an imperial commissioner, to lead an anti-opium campaign.Lin, in 1839, finally went to Canton, which was then the main port for foreign trade. There, he found a British warehouse full of opium. He confiscated its content and publicly destroyed more than 20,000 chests of the opium seized from British merchants by mixing them with salt and lemon before throwing them into the ocean.
The Opium Wars resulted in the victimization of China by foreign powers for decades to follow. It was not until 1949 and the victory of Mao Zedong and communism that the unequal treaties signed between the Chinese government and the foreign powers were abolished. It was also after 1949 that China took back all the ports, except for Hong Kong. Hong Kong remained a British territory until 1997.

Mountains of the moon

The two Europeans, Richard Burton and John Speke had many expectations and hardships that faced in the Continent of Africa. They started out in Somalia and went west to the middle of Africa that's where they met their most fears. But as they sailed to Africa, they saw Africans working to bring the goods of Africa to sail it to Europe. As they traveled they camped in the desert to rest for the night. As they were sleeping they were ambushed by a tribe with spears and shields. Richard and John fought against them but there were to many. So they had to escape, luckily Richard Burton escaped but with a spear through his mouth. John was captured and tied up on the sand floor. John escaped the next mourning but before he escaped, the tribe stabbed his legs and arms for great amount of pain.
Richard and John found each other but went back to Europe to fix Richards mouth. They finally came back for another trip and left to the middle of Africa. Richards mouth was fine except for some missing tooth's. The two bumped into a big tribe that wanted him to come to the King for an invite. They had to bring gifts for the king (which they had to or they would get killed) as they approached him dressed as proper as they can, holding the England flag. The king saw the gifts but did not know how to use them. Richard showed him the small pistol and how it works.
The tribe got really scared, because they did not know what was the weapon. The king loved him and accepted him as a visitor. They had a party and had a lot of fun. John did not participate in the party but traveled a little more to see if they have found the Lake Victoria ( they named the lake, lake victoria, because their Queen was named Victoria and they wanted to name the lake after her). He did but Richard did not want to leave. He wanted to go back home because the monsus would come (The rainy season).
John went hunting for animals and he put the gun on the side and suicide himself. He died in 1890 during the time Richard was doing his speach. He was telling his adventures in the National Geographic Confrence. But he didnt finish when he herd his beloved friend died from that disaster.