Diamonds In History
Diamonds have been mined and prized for their beauty for over two millennia. For the majority of that time, up until the 18th century, India was the only supplier of diamonds for Europe and Asia. As the colonization into Africa and Americas flourished new sources for natural diamonds were found. Today India remains a diamond supplier of only local importance. One of the most mystical and infamous diamonds in modern times, the Hope Diamond, a 45.52 carat deep blue stone, comes from an ancient Indian mine near the city of Golconda. The Hope diamond has had many owners since its arrival from India in the 17th century, including the French royalty and an American socialite. Since 1958 this diamond is the property of the United States and is on display in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
Ancient civilizations were well aware of the diamond's unique hardness, even though they did not know how to cut them to produce the brilliance that diamonds are famous for today. They were considered a luxury and only royalty could own the bigger stones, such as the one that produced the Hope diamond. Thousands of people worked at the diamond mines in India at that time. It is estimated that during this 2000 year period India produced 12 million carats of rough diamonds (which is about 2.5 metric tonnes).
In the early 18th century another country stepped in to become the world's major producer of rough diamonds — Brazil. Local gold diggers found the rough stones and sent them to Portugal for examination. These stones launched a new era in diamond mining that in the course of the next 150 years supplied over 16 million carats of Brazillian diamonds to Europe, more than India supplied in 2000 years. Since then, a large number mines have been developed around the globe. There are even speculations that enormous diamond deposits may exist in Antarctica, but mining in harsh polar conditions is too difficult to pursue at this time.
There was one event in the history of diamonds though, that really revolutionized the world's relationship with these sparkly stones. It was the discovery of diamonds in South Africa, in the 19th century. A small pebble that children found beside a river turned out to be a diamond. It was cut into 10.42 carat oval stone, which they called Eurika. It soon became apparent that diamond deposits in Africa are incomparably larger than any previously discovered ones. This started a diamond rush with a large number of mines opening up. Remarkably, most of the important mines on the African continent are located in a 300 km wide strip between the cities of Kimberley and Pretoria. Underwater mining projects have since been undertaken near the West African shores along the same strip, pioneering the way to explore the vast deposits lying beneath the deep water. These mines produced and keep producing some of the finest and largest rough diamonds.
It is impossible not to mention De Beers, a group of companies that is responsible for the majority of developments in the diamond industry during the 20th century. It was founded by an Englishman Cecil John Rhodes in 1880 as the De Beers Mining Company Ltd. This company further acquired many more mines in the vicinity, as well as signed contracts with numerous local and international mines to buy out all of their production for further resale at their discretion. It allowed De Beers to control an unprecedented share of the diamond market. While their tactics were highly monopolistic, to be able to continue their business successfully, De Beers had to make sure their image to the world is humane and positive. They managed to have the people's support regardless of the changing political atmosphere, and during the apartheid period for example, financed anti-apartheid opposition.
Today the diamond market is changing in such ways that even De Beers cannot keep full control. As the map below shows, the majority of the operational diamond mines are still located in Africa, yet, only about half of the world's production comes from that continent. In fact, as the number of mines in Canada and Australia keeps growing, exciting new changes await the diamond industry. With the advancements in global communication it becomes irrelevant where in the world the diamonds are produced and stored: consumers can now have access to inventory that is as large and diverse, as the world itself.
