{"id":9043,"date":"2026-08-27T07:37:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:37:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:37:04","slug":"the-pillage-that-fueled-americas-tech-booms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043","title":{"rendered":"The pillage that fueled America&#8217;s tech booms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Cobalt mining is one of the world&#8217;s most dangerous jobs. And it&#8217;s also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world&#8217;s cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries. This week on our series , we reveal the fight for control of those resources, and for the dignity of the people who produce them. (This episode originally aired in 2023)<\/p>\n<p>author of <\/p>\n<p>author of <\/p>\n<p> art historian and former curator at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Dallas Museum of Art<\/p>\n<p> African and global studies Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former UN ambassador for the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/p>\n<p>Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show\u2019s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9035\">Yayoi Kusama, high priestess of polka dots, has died<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cobalt mining is one of the world&#8217;s most dangerous jobs. And it&#8217;s also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world&#8217;s cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries. This week on our series <em>Hidden Histories<\/em>, we reveal the fight for control of those resources, and for the dignity of the people who produce them. (This episode originally aired in 2023)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Guests:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Siddharth Kara, <\/strong>author of <em>Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Adam Hochschild, <\/strong>author of <em>King Leopold\u2019s Ghost<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ramona Austin,<\/strong> art historian and former curator at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Dallas Museum of Art<\/p>\n<p><strong>Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja,<\/strong> African and global studies Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former UN ambassador for the Democratic Republic of Congo<\/p>\n<p>Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show\u2019s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/plus.npr.org\/\"target=\"_blank\"   >plus.npr.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-throughline"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The pillage that fueled America&#039;s tech booms - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The pillage that fueled America&#039;s tech booms - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cobalt mining is one of the world&#039;s most dangerous jobs. And it&#039;s also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world&#039;s cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries. This week on our series Hidden Histories, we reveal the fight for control of those resources, and for the dignity of the people who produce them. (This episode originally aired in 2023)Guests:\u00a0Siddharth Kara, author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our LivesAdam Hochschild, author of King Leopold\u2019s GhostRamona Austin, art historian and former curator at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Dallas Museum of ArtGeorges Nzongola-Ntalaja, African and global studies Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former UN ambassador for the Democratic Republic of CongoSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show\u2019s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\"},\"headline\":\"The pillage that fueled America&#8217;s tech booms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043\"},\"wordCount\":183,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Throughline\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043\",\"name\":\"The pillage that fueled America's tech booms - Best USA Movers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Dela wa Monga, an artisanal miner, holds a cobalt stone at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi on October 12, 2022. - Some 20,000 people work at Shabara, in shifts of 5,000 at a time. Congo produced 72 percent of the worlds cobalt last year, according to Darton Commodities. And demand for the metal is exploding due to its use in the rechargeable batteries that power mobile phones and electric cars. But the countrys poorly regulated artisanal mines, which produce a small but not-negligeable percentage of its total output, have tarnished the image of Congolese cobalt. (Photo by Junior KANNAH \\\/ AFP) (Photo by JUNIOR KANNAH\\\/AFP via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?p=9043#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The pillage that fueled America&#8217;s tech booms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Best USA Movers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestusamoverss.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The pillage that fueled America's tech booms - Best USA Movers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The pillage that fueled America's tech booms - Best USA Movers","og_description":"Cobalt mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. And it's also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world's cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries. This week on our series Hidden Histories, we reveal the fight for control of those resources, and for the dignity of the people who produce them. (This episode originally aired in 2023)Guests:\u00a0Siddharth Kara, author of Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our LivesAdam Hochschild, author of King Leopold\u2019s GhostRamona Austin, art historian and former curator at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Dallas Museum of ArtGeorges Nzongola-Ntalaja, African and global studies Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former UN ambassador for the Democratic Republic of CongoSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show\u2019s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.","og_url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043","og_site_name":"Best USA Movers","article_published_time":"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40"},"headline":"The pillage that fueled America&#8217;s tech booms","datePublished":"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043"},"wordCount":183,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Throughline"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043","name":"The pillage that fueled America's tech booms - Best USA Movers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-27T07:37:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d05b21597c03d80d62b5d8949f8e520e-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"Dela wa Monga, an artisanal miner, holds a cobalt stone at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi on October 12, 2022. - Some 20,000 people work at Shabara, in shifts of 5,000 at a time. Congo produced 72 percent of the worlds cobalt last year, according to Darton Commodities. And demand for the metal is exploding due to its use in the rechargeable batteries that power mobile phones and electric cars. But the countrys poorly regulated artisanal mines, which produce a small but not-negligeable percentage of its total output, have tarnished the image of Congolese cobalt. (Photo by Junior KANNAH \/ AFP) (Photo by JUNIOR KANNAH\/AFP via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9043#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The pillage that fueled America&#8217;s tech booms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/","name":"Best USA Movers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3f4fef4452a41b72c331a70422221f40","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/bestusamoverss.com"],"url":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}