The Richest Poor Country on Earth: How Congo Was Robbed

Congo has some of the richest mineral deposits on Earth — diamonds, copper, gold, and the cobalt that powers your phone and electric car. So why is the Democratic Republic of the Congo one of the poorest countries in the world? The answer starts with one Belgian king who never set foot in Africa, but claimed the entire Congo as his personal property — and turned it into one of the deadliest colonial systems in history. This is the story of the Congo Free State's rubber terror under King Leopold II, the decades of Belgian colonial rule that followed, the rise of independence leader Patrice Lumumba, and the assassination that a Belgian government inquiry itself later called a "moral responsibility" of the state. This is The Colonial Scramble — the series uncovering how colonialism shaped the Africa we see today. Sources referenced include Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost," the 2001 Belgian parliamentary inquiry into Lumumba's assassination, and contemporary reporting from E.D. Morel and Roger Casement. If you want to understand how the modern world was actually shaped, subscribe for the next episode in The Colonial Scramble. #Congo #DRC #History #Colonialism #Leopold #Lumumba #AfricanHistory #Documentary