history

• Diamond is a crystal mainly formed of carbon. its measured in carats which is the weight of a carob seed.the value of a diamond also depends ,clarity and how it's cut.
• diamonds are valuable because they are difficult to mine, its very difficult and expensive to cut properly, theres a big demand for diamond a round the world, they are a symbol of wealth, they are used as an investment, they have industrial uses like lasers, drills and surgical equipment
• only 30 percent of diamonds are used as jewllery. 70 percent of diamonds are used in industry. Kings and queens throughout history have paraded their wealth by using diamonds in their crowns.
• the discord od diamonds was a Turing point for South Africa. The country changed from an agricultural economy to a capitalistic, industrialised economy.this was known as the mineral revolution.
• the first diamond in South African was discovered in Hopetown in 1867. News of the diamond discovery soon spread all over the world.Fortune seekers fro Australia, America and Britain joined the "diamond rush" to South Africa, By 1870 there were 10 000 diggers on the land between The Vaal, Harts and Orange Rivers.
• In 1871, there were rich finds on a farm owned by Diederik de Beer. This was followed a few months later by the discovery of of diamonds in a little hill called Colesberg Kopje. This was the top of an ancient pipe of lava.The diggers began to dig, resulting in the second largest man made hole in the world called Kimberly Big Hole. It was named after the British Colonial Secretary.
• There were a few different claimants to ownership of the diamond fields. The Griquas said this are was called Griqualand West,and they had lived there for the past 70 years.Other tribes also said the land was thiers.
• the Orange Free State Republic said that this land had been included in their boundary when they formed their independent republic. After a long dispute,The land was recognised as belonging to the Griqua.
• There were many problems on the diamond fields like lack of fresh water and fresh vegetables, lack of housing, very little food, quarrels, no sanitary or medical services, the heat was terrible and there were dust storms.The administrations and governance of this rapidly developed town was a nightmare.Britain persuaded the Griqua to allow them to take over Griqualand West as a Crown Colony in 1871. I t was formally annexed by the Cape in 1880
• Land around Colesburg Kopje was divided into strips of 9,5m by 4,5m. To get to all the strips there were 2,25m roads. 500 claims were sold and no individual could have more than one claim. Later the officials changed the number to 10 claims per person. The workers hired diggers to work the claim. The diggers had to apply for a license and then they could employ labourers. Within a few months, about 3000people were working on 800 claims on the top of what was later called the big hole
• Obtaining digger's license

  1. Black people were allowed

  2. White people protested by burning down tents and liquor stores

  3. Black people no longer allowed to become diggers after 1871

  4. Had to be labourers at lower wages than white people
• Some black people moved to the rivers to find diamonds
• They had to carry passes and life was difficult for them
• They were expected to work from sunrise to sunset for low pay
• If a diamond thief was caught he was punished with 50 lashes and one year hard labour
• The claims on Colesburg Kopje went deeper, resulting in many problems . The dividing walls on the claims collapsed. it became difficult to distinguish from one claim to the next. fights between miners broke out. There were not safety regulations. Hard rocks feel onto miners
• There were hundreds of ropes in the hole pulling our buckets of sand. the diamond bearing soil went down about 300m and the diggers could not get out by hand. Machinery was too expensive. when the claims became deeper . the water level was reached and the claims filled with wate
• 12 companies formed by buying up a few small claims


  1880
• Diggers


  • Found it impossible to carry on digging in the crowded, wet and dangerous Big Hole
  • Many of them were only too glad to sell their claims
• There were 59 companies


  1881
• Buying claims and shares in a company

  People borrowed money from the bank
• Prices for diamonds went down

  Because of over-production
• It became very expensive to get the soil out of the hole


  The banks asked for the loans to be paid back
• Many of the companies went bankrupt


  They had no money to pay back their loans
• Cecil John Rhodes


  Founder of De Beers Mining Company
• Barney Barnato

  Self-made millionaire
• Formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited

  1. Rhodes bought out Barnato's company

  2. Barnato became a life governor of the new company after Rhodes paid him $4 million (the equivalent of R20 billion in 2010)

  3. Barney Barnato drowned while travelling back to Britain on a ship
• Rhodes

  • Had the monopoly of regulating supplies
  • Was able to control the price of diamonds by not having to sell them when the price was low
  • Was able to control the wealth of the colony and to direct the political and economic future of South Africa for a few years
  • Was determined to use his wealth to buy more land for Britain in Africa
• investment


  something that is bought in order to make more money later when it is sold
• capitalistic


  system where people can make as much money as they want to, often by taking advantage of workers