In 1891, there was a race between Belgium and Britain to see who could conquer the mineral rich Katanga region in Central Africa. The Belgians, led by Captain William Stairs (Ironically British), defeated the Brits and Katanga was annexed on the Congo Free State. From what I've read, the people of Katanga had more in common, ethnically, with the people of what is now Zambia, than with the rest of the Congo. In 1960, the Congolese gained independence and shortly afterwards Katanga tried to secede. The Congo would've been bankrupt without the revenue from the province's mines so they needed to put down the separatists, precipitating the bloody Congo Crisis. So what if the British had won the race and Katanga became part of Rhodesia instead? What today's DRC be less of a bloodbath?