The long history of African diamonds
by blogger on Oct.05, 2010, under Shopping
The diamond trade has been established for hundreds of years, and is intimately entwined with the history of colonialism and empire. The stones for creating diamond rings and other premium jewellery are of such great value that their trading history is highly coloured by wars fought over resources and more lately the funds required to fight wars. They have been used to buy the favour of kings and queens and have helped incite revolutions.
So great was the desire for grand diamond wedding rings and spectacular diamond earrings (as well as tiaras, crowns, bracelets, cufflinks, and coronets) that the trade fuelled the European desire for colonies in Africa and other distant locations. A large proportion of the world’s diamonds are still mined in African nations.
In southern Africa, Cecil Rhodes in particular recognised the value of the diamond industry. Always a canny politician, Rhodes took great care to build up a great network of diamond mines and gaining control over the trade. Today the company he founded (known across the globe as De Beers) still accounts for a staggering proportion of the world’s total.
In some unfortunate African nations, control over the diamond trade has been the bone of contention in bloody struggles in the past. The funds from the stones sold to create diamond rings and other fine jewellery were sometimes used by warlords and rebel armies to buy weapons and overthrow governments. However, this is not the case today. Now all diamond wedding rings (and in fact all diamonds) sold in Europe must be proven to be conflict free- that is, mined and traded responsibly.
