the size of all western europe combined. it should be africa s wealthiest nation. the people forget, or never even knew, that the 20th century s first holocaust happened here when belgium s king leopold managed to bamboozle the world giving him personal title to the congo. leopold s agents of whom the mythical kurtz was one, raided, slaughtered, mutilated, and pressed into forced labor much of the population, in a bloodthirsty quest for first ivory and then rubber. when independence finally came, the belgians trashed what they could, and left behind a completely unprepared tribally divided and largely ungovernable land mass, filled with stuff that everybody in the world wanted.
this then is the congo. the size of all western europe combined. it should be africa s wealthiest nation. but people forget, or never even knew, that the 20th century s first holocaust happened here when belgium s king leopold managed to bamboozle the world into giving him personal title to the congo. leopold s agents of whom the mythical kurtz was one, raided, slaughtered, mutilated and pressed into forced labor much of the population, in a bloodthirsty quest for first ivory and then rubber. when independence finally came, the belgians trashed what they could, and left behind a completely unprepared tribally divided and largely ungovernable land mass, filled with stuff that everybody in the world wanted.
everyone gets everything he wants. i wanted to see the congo. for my sins, they let me. in heart of darkness joseph conrad writes of his alter ego when i was a little chap, i had a passion for maps. at that time, there were many blank spaces on earth. but there was one yet, the biggest, the most blank, that i had a hankering after. this then is the congo. the size of all western europe
biggest, the most blank, that i had a hankering after. this then is the congo. the size of all western europe combined. it should be africa s wealthiest nation. but people forget, or never even knew, that the 20th century s first holocaust happened here when belgium s king leopold managed to bamboozle the world into giving him personal title to the congo. leopold s agents of whom the mythical kurtz was one, raided, slaughtered, mutilated and pressed into forced labor much of the population, in a bloodthirsty quest for first ivory and then rubber. when independence finally came, the belgians trashed what they could, and left behind a completely unprepared tribally divided and largely ungovernable land mass, filled with stuff that everybody in the world
the size of all western europe combined. it should be africa s wealthiest nation. but people forget, or never even knew, that the 20th century s first holocaust happened here when belgium s king leopold managed to bamboozle the world into giving him personal title to the congo. leopold s agents of whom the mythical kurtz was one, raided, slaughtered, mutilated and pressed into forced labor much of the population, in a bloodthirsty quest for first ivory and then rubber. when independence finally came, the belgians trashed what they could, and left behind a completely unprepared tribally divided and largely ungovernable land mass, filled with stuff that everybody in the world wanted.