Rubber is an everyday substance with a controversial past. Tim Harford tells the story of the innovations that made it a hot property, and the surge in demand that led to turmoil and bloodshed in an African colony.
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Image credit
Sources
The Kodak on the Congo, 2010, Sharon Sliwinski, Autograph ABP, London
King Leopold's Ghost, 1999, Adam Hochschild, Mariner Books, New York/Boston
Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock
Cision PR Newswire - World Rubber Industry
ACS Chemistry for Life - US Synthetic Rubber Program
Sciencing - Properties of Natural and Synthetic Rubber
National Geographic - Why We (still) Can't Live Without Rubber
Al Jazeera - Indigenous communities at risk as Chinese rubber firm uses land
Broadcasts
- Sat 20 Jul 201904:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & South Asia
- Sat 20 Jul 201913:50GMTBBC World Service News Internet
- Sun 21 Jul 201914:50GMTBBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East Asia & South Asia
- Sun 21 Jul 201921:50GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sun 21 Jul 201922:50GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 22 Jul 201903:50GMTBBC World Service South Asia
Podcast
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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
The stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which helped create the economic world
