Diamond Mining In South Africa History
Mining in south africa was once the main driving force behind the history and development of africa s most advanced and richest economy.
Diamond mining in south africa history. Visiting kimberley diamond mine in south africa mine statistics. Diamonds gold and imperialist intervention 1870 1902 south africa experienced a transformation between 1870 when the diamond rush to kimberley began and 1902 when the south african war ended. The cullinan diamond is discovered at the premier mine. The premier mine is later renamed the cullinan mine.
The two biggest are presented to king edward vii in 1908 and now form part of the british crown jewels 1910 union of south africa formed 1914. M m ining in south africa has been a contentious issue since 15 year old erasmus stephanus jacobs discovered south africa s first diamond the eureka in hopetown in 1867. Gold rushes to pilgrim s rest and barberton were precursors to the biggest discovery of all the main reef main reef leader on gerhardus oosth. The cullinan diamond is cut into nine gems.
Continue to 3 of 11 below. It kickstarted what historians call the mineral revolution which made few european opportunists wealthy beyond measure and saw hundreds of thousands of men leaving their homes to become fulltime mineworkers. This map helps visitors to. Large scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the orange river in 1867 by erasmus jacobs and the subsequent discovery and exploitation of the kimberley pipes a few years later.
Midway between these dates in 1886 the world s largest goldfields were discovered on the witwatersrand. At 3 106 75ct it is the largest rough diamond ever found. The place is now a province in south africa. Nearly 15 million diamonds were extracted from the kimberley diamond mine discovered in 1871.
The story of diamonds in south africa begins between december 1866 and february 1867 when 15 year old erasmus jacobs found a transparent rock on his father s farm on the south bank of the orange river. Erasmus jacobs a 15 year old farmer s son finds africa s first authenticated diamond near the orange river hopetown. It triggers the first diamond rush. The big hole is 215 meters or 705 feet deep.
The discovery of diamonds in south africa occurred in early 1867 on the land of a poor boer farmer daniel jacobs near the small isolated settlement of hopetown on the orange river in the cape of good hope colony. Over the next few years south africa yielded more diamonds than india had in over 2 000 years.