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Cutting hands that feed us

Over 80 percent of the world’s population uses one of these a smart phone. But what over 80 percent of the world’s population probably never thinks about, is the true cost of the Cobalt used in the batteries of smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles.

Hands that have for long been hurt beyond imagination, while harvesting the main ingredients to our industries. But before we start today’s story, we need to properly set the scene. Because though the country we’re going to talk about is home to one of poorest nations in the world, the land itself is perhaps the richest land on earth. So, let’s take a look at this beautiful land and see if you can guess the continent or the country in question. Now if you already guessed the images were from Africa, then you were right. These images were all from Congo, the country with the most abundant resources known on earth and yet home to one of the ten most impoverished nations in the world. But it was at the hands of these impoverished people that Europe experienced its industrial boom in late 1800s. From Bicycle tires to industrial bands, rubber played a big role in answering Europeans’ daily demands specially with the rubber boom at mid-1800s. But Rubber does not grow in Europe. And that’s where we’re introduced to story of a Belgian king and his Congo comes in. To story about the toil of hands and their unlikely reward. Now who was this Belgian king we’re talking about? And what did he do?


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