Congo River

Short History Of...

Noiser

History

4.7 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Congo River is the world’s deepest and most powerful waterway. In its basin, a wilderness bigger than Alaska, natural resources abound - oil, gold, diamonds, rubber. But this river, more than any other, is also linked with some of the darkest times in human history – with slavery, war and corruption. So what do we know of the early communities who lived on its shores? Why did it take Europeans so long to explore the river? And what role did the Congo play in the development of motor cars, the atomic bomb and mobile phones? From Noiser, this is a Short History of the Congo River. Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Tim Butcher, a travel history writer and author of Blood River, based on his journey down the Congo. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So you've arrived you head to the brassery then the terrace cocktail. Don't mind if I do
0:08.5	You raise your glass to another guest because you both know the holidays just beginning
0:15.5	And you're only in terminal three
0:18.0	Welcome to Virgin Atlantic's unique upper-class clubhouse experience where you'll feel like you've arrived before you've taken off
0:27.2	Virgin Atlantic see the world differently
0:30.2	It
0:32.2	It is October 1985 and an Air France Concorde aircraft is beginning its descent towards its destination
0:40.8	Gaston Lennotra, a renowned pastry chef from Paris, fixes his seat belt
0:46.4	The flight has been swift and luxurious barely time to get through the caviar and four types of champagne
0:52.6	The signature gato for dessert was excellent, but then he did design it himself
1:00.9	As the Concorde drops through the clouds he peers down at the unfamiliar landscape of Central Africa
1:07.6	It's a carpet of green and black
1:11.2	A jungle cut in two by a muscular caramel-colored snake the Congo River
1:18.8	From above the water looks peaceful
1:21.4	It is hard to reconcile its beauty with its bloody reputation a place that so traumatized the author Joseph Conrad that he dubbed it
1:30.0	The heart of darkness
1:37.3	Now Lennotra is distracted from his thoughts by stewardess collecting his glass the Concorde is coming into land
1:47.3	Once they're on solid ground Lennotra turns his attention to his luggage which today comprises a single large cardboard box
1:55.7	He follows an attendant as the box is carried for him out of the cabin into tropical heat that licks his skin
2:05.9	As he crosses the runway he glances back at Concorde its famous pointed nose in Congress against a backdrop of teaming jungle
2:14.9	Though the iconic aircraft is a familiar site in New York or London
2:19.0	Today it has been chartered for a special trip to Badolite a remote town in the north of Zaire
	...

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