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The 1911-1916 Lever Villages: Soap, Palm Oil, and Colonial Control in the Congo
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Lever Villages scheme, a bold experiment by British industrialist William Lever to extract palm oil from the Belgian Congo through a system of forced labor and company-controlled settlements. From 1911 to 1916, Lever's company, Lever Brothers (later Unilever), established plantations along the Congo River, compelling local communities to harvest palm fruits under brutal conditions reminiscent of the rubber terror. The episode delves into the economic motivations behind the scheme, the resistance from Congolese villagers, and the eventual…
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