Patrice Lumumba and Congolese Independence

After decades of Belgian rule, Congo gained independence in June 1960 under the leadership of the nation's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. However, hope was quickly shattered by cold war rivalries and a fierce internal power struggle. Lumumba's vision for a sovereign prosperous Congo was crushed by forces that prevented the nation from ever realizing its true potential. Learn more about the tragic rise and fall of Patrice Lumumba and the birth of the modern Congo on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you wanna know what it's like to hang out with MS 13, El Salvador? How the Russian mafia fought battles all over Brooklyn in the nineteen nineties? What about that time I got lost in the Burmese jungle hunting the world's biggest meth lab? I'm Sean Williams. And I'm Danny Gold, and we're the host of the underworld podcast. We're journalists that have traveled all over reporting on dangerous people and places. And every week, we'll be bringing you a new story about organized crime from all over the world. Available wherever you get your podcasts. To understand the roots of the Democratic Republic Of Congo's post colonial challenges, we have to briefly review its history under Belgian rule, a topic which I covered in a previous episode. During the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, Congo became the personal property of King Leopold the second, who governed it not as a colony, but as his own personal possession. His reign saw the unchecked exploitation of Congo's resources and the horrific treatment of the Congolese people, all driven by Leopold's obsession with the global demand for rubber. The brutal extraction of rubber was organized by a terror that's almost incomprehensible today. The Congolese were forced to harvest wild rubber under the constant threat of violence if they failed to meet their strict quota. The enforcement of these strict quotas fell to the Force Publique, a mercenary army that acted as Leopold's personal enforcers, terrorizing the Congolese into submission. Failure to comply with these quotas often led to forced mutilation. The Force Publique agents often cut the hands and feet off of people for failure to meet rubber quotas. It is estimated that up to 10,000,000 people were killed during this period. Amid mounting global outrage in the early twentieth century, Congo was transferred from Leopold's personal rule to formal Belgian administration. This change was motivated by the hope that Belgium would improve conditions, making the Congolese situation more like that of its African neighbors. The now Belgian Congo focused on the continued extraction of Congo's vast natural resources. Until independence of June 1960, the Belgian government extracted valuable minerals including copper, diamonds, and gold. The Congo is home to some of the world's most valuable natural resources. Recent estimates of Congo's untapped mineral reserves put the value as high as $25,000,000,000,000. As decolonization began in the nineteen fifties, indigenous efforts in Congo challenged Belgian rule, including major riots in cities such as Leopoldville. Nationalist movements in Congo …