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FUSION GROUP

Congo's rich and forgotten history.
Congo has a rich history in the production of cocoa and played a vital role in popularising the high-quality chocolate we know today. During the Spanish rule of Belgium, Spanish explorers brought back cocoa beans from South America. Cocoa trees were worshipped by the Mayan civilisations and the name cocoa means "food of the Gods".
This initial introduction of cocoa was exclusive to elite communities due to supply shortages up until the Belgian colonisation of the Congo Free State (also known as the ‘Belgian Congo’) during the 19th century.
Belgium recognised Congo had both the climate and suitable land to harvest cacao beans and began to successfully plant vast acres of cacao trees throughout the country. King Leopold III then made Belgium the number one trader in cocoa and chocolate, thanks to the Congo. Without Congo, it could be argued that the world would not have been introduced to chocolate as we know it today.
Cocoa production began to slow down after Congolese independence in the 1960s as a high number of Belgian expats were expelled from the country and took their technical knowledge with them. A long and bloody civil war also followed throughout the 1990s and into the early years of the 2000s, and its effects are still being felt today.
Thankfully, in the last decade or so, the Congolese farming industry has experienced a revival due to relative political and social stability. We believe it's now time for Congo to thrive once again.
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