1. What does a 19 th
century genocide in
Africa have in common
with your cell phone?
Read on to find out.

2. Congo is one
of the largest
countries in
Africa. It lies
along the
Equator. It is
mountainous,
covered with
dense tropical
rainforests,
and rich in
resources.

3. To get a sense of its
size, check out
everything you can
squeeze into Africa.
Now go back a slide
and look at Congo
again and make a
mental comparison to
the size of the US on
this map. It’s a big
place.

4. In 1878, pockets of
European control in
Africa were pretty
much limited to a
few coastal trading
posts.

5. King Leopold II
This man, King Leopold II
of Belgium, changed
that.
He did so by murdering
millions of people in
Congo and reaping huge
profits through their
suffering.

6. In the early
1800s,
Charles
Goodyear
and others
learned
how to
make
vulcanized
rubber
which has
many
practical
uses.

7. The invention of the bicycle …

8. … and the automobile made the price of rubber,
essential for tires, skyrocket.

9. A rubber tree takes 15 years to
mature before it can be tapped
for its sap. Rubber trees only
grow naturally in a few spots,
including Congo.
Leopold knew if he gained
control over the natural rubber
forests of Congo, he’d have a
decade and a half to corner the
market before he’d face any
competition.

10. He hired agents to gain control of Congo – an area
80 times larger than Belgium which he claimed as
his privately owned lands. When he did, other
European powers followed his lead. They met in
Berlin and carved up the map of Africa.

11. By the eve of the
First World War, all
of Africa (except
Ethiopia) had been
conquered and its
resources were
being exported to
the industrial
factories of Europe.

12. Stage 3:Leopold II’s men
In Congo, Dehumanization
exported a steady flow of
rubber by enslaving its
people and forcing them to
harvest this resource.

13. Stage 3: Dehumanization
Leopold’s soldiers were
given a rifle and ten bullets.
Bullets were expensive. To
prove soldiers didn’t waste
them, they had to bring back
a severed hand from a
victim for each shot fired.
Of course, no one hits their
target 100% of the time so
many innocents had their
hands cut off to cover for
the soldiers’ missed shots.

14. A 20-year genocide
claimed 10 million
lives before Leopold II
was eventually forced
to turn control of
Congo over to the
Belgian government.
Afterwards, little
changed. Congo, rich
in resources, still
suffers an eerily
similar fate today.

15. Today, 90% of coltan,
a rare metal essential
for cell phones,
laptops, and other
electronics is found
in Congo and dug by
hand in pits like this
one run by some of SCRAMBLING FOR HIDDEN WEALTH A hunter
discovered tin ore in eastern Congo in 2002, and
the people who miners arrived almost overnight. In the battle for
control of the mine in Bisie, a militia allied with
conducted the 1994 the government won out.
Rwandan genocide.

16. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/15/world/africa/20081115-
congo/index.html?ref=africa
Click on these links
to read more about
this terrible aspect
of today’s global
economy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/a
frica/16imani.html?ref=africa&pagewanted=all