The Dark History of Rubber - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

As a keynote speaker I am always listening out for great stories. Here’s one from From The David McWilliams Podcast: Casement, Congo & the Comeback of Empire: Is Trump Reviving Imperialism?, 6 Mar 2025.

This is my summary. One day it might make the backbone of a great story that will engage an audience.

How a Kid’s Sore Butt Sparked a Global Crime: The Dark History of Rubber

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A child's discomfort led to the pneumatic tire, sparking a rubber boom. But behind the bicycle craze was a brutal colonial crime that shaped modern globalization.

The Bicycle Boom That Changed Everything

It all started in 1880 in Downpatrick, County Down, with a five-year-old boy complaining to his father about a sore backside. His bicycle’s solid metal tires made for a rough ride on the streets. His father, John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinarian, had an idea—what if he put air into rubber tires to soften the impact?

Tinkering away in his shed, he created the first pneumatic tire, an invention that would change the world. Dunlop patented it, and soon, his idea gave birth to a global industry. What followed was a bicycle craze, a booming middle class, and, on the other side of the world, one of the greatest crimes of the colonial era.

The Rise of the Middle Class and the Need for Rubber

The late 19th century was the first great wave of globalization. Europe was expanding its reach, not just through trade but by taking over entire countries to exploit their resources. The gold standard was in place, banking systems were growing, and a new white-collar middle class was emerging.

This new class had money to spend and save. They wanted consumer goods—like bicycles—and they wanted secure investments with reliable returns. Banks promised them 5% interest, but that money had to come from somewhere.

Enter the colonial project.

European powers needed raw materials to fuel industry. With the bicycle craze taking off, demand for rubber exploded. And there were only two places in the world where rubber trees grew naturally—the Amazon and Central Africa.

How Rubber Became Blood Rubber

One man in particular saw the potential for massive profits—King Leopold II of Belgium. He didn’t just want a piece of the rubber trade; he wanted to own it all. So, in what might be one of history’s greatest heists, he claimed the Congo as his personal property.

Not Belgium’s. His. 

Leopold set up a brutal system of forced labor, where Congolese villagers were forced to harvest rubber under threat of torture and death. Entire communities were enslaved to meet European demand.

The local Congolese consistently rose up against them and robbed guns and robbed ammunition to try and defend themselves. So the Belgians were losing so much ammunition.

So they said to the Force Publique, who were a local militia, if you kill somebody with one of our bullets, we need to show proof that you've killed somebody and not sold the bullet. As proof, we want you to chop off the hand of the people you killed. But of course, once the hand becomes the currency, what did the Force Publique do? They chop the hands off living people.

This wasn’t just a crime of kings and colonizers—it was financed by ordinary middle-class Europeans who had invested in companies that fueled this brutality.

The Bicycle: A Symbol of Liberation and Oppression

Ironically, while the bicycle was a tool of freedom in Europe, it was built on the suffering of the Congolese.

•  In Britain, the bicycle boom changed marriage patterns—people could now travel beyond their home villages, leading to a rise in inter-parish marriages.
•  Women’s rights movements embraced cycling as a symbol of independence. The Suffragettes saw bicycles as a way to escape the constraints of society, traveling freely without relying on men.

But every rubber tire meant more suffering in the Congo.

Leopold’s system was so brutal that when news of the atrocities leaked, it sparked one of the first human rights campaigns in modern history. Missionaries, journalists, and activists exposed the horrors, leading to global outrage.

Eventually, under pressure, Leopold was forced to give up control of the Congo, but by then, millions had suffered and died.

The Forgotten Crimes of Globalization

Rubber wasn’t the first plant to drive imperialism. Tea, coffee, and sugar had already reshaped the world, fueling the Atlantic slave trade. The botanist—often seen as a harmless scientist—was actually a key figure in colonialism, identifying valuable plants and helping empires steal them.

By the 19th century, industrial uses of plants became just as important as food. Rubber revolutionized industries—not just bicycles, but cars, electrical wiring, and communication (the first underwater telegraph cables were insulated with rubber).

But progress came at a terrible cost. The rubber boom was a crime hidden in plain sight, funded by investors who didn’t ask too many questions about where their money was going.

A Legacy That Still Echoes Today

The story of the bicycle and the Belgian Congo is a lesson in how globalization connects us in ways we don’t always see. A child’s sore backside led to a global rubber boom, which fueled a humanitarian disaster.

It raises uncomfortable questions:

•  How often do we ignore the true cost of progress?
•  Who suffers so that we can enjoy convenience and comfort?
•  Are today’s supply chains—whether for clothing, electronics, or minerals—any different from those of the past?

The world runs on raw materials, and the drive for profit often leads to exploitation. The rubber boom may be history, but the pattern keeps repeating.

We like to believe that the past is the past. But maybe, just maybe, it isn’t.