In the 1890s, a British shipping clerk named Edmund Morel noticed the Belgians were shipping vast quantities of rubber from the Congo, then a Belgian colony, but the only thing they were sending in return were guns, explosives, and chains. Morel uncovered a scandal that shook the world, as it turned out Belgian King Leopold II was running Congo as his own private plantation, using horrific violence to keep the population working.
Washington D.C.-area journalist Orrin Konheim joins us to talk about how one of history’s greatest atrocities was covered up, and then brought to light.