In theory the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) should be among the richest countries on earth. Its vast territory virtually brims with cobalt, copper, cadmium, oil, industrial and gem diamonds, coltan, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, timber, coal, and hydroelectric potential. And yet the DRC consistently ranks in the bottom ten of the Human Development Index. In its northeastern region the deadliest conflict since WWII continues to claim about 1,000 lives a day. Not inappropriately then, the name of the capital Kinshasa, where nearly 80% dwell in slums or squatter settlements, comes from the word 'kinsasa,' meaning "why are things happening this way?"
This series of entries on Congolese history seeks to shed some light on the reasons why. The second installment looks at the forgotten holocaust that played out between 1885 and 1908, when the equitorial rain forest became the private labor camp of a European playboy king - the so-called Congo Free State.