1867 - Diamonds Discovered in Kimberly

South Africa’s long history with diamond mining began in 1867 with the diamond discovery near Kimberley in the Northern Cape. The diamond fields were claimed simultaneously by Boers, British and African tribal chiefs, leading to more turmoil over the land. Eventually, they were annexed by the British.

Initially, both Black and white individual diggers worked small claims by hand. As mining production quickly became centralized (and mechanized), ownership and labour were divided more starkly along racial lines. A new class of mining capitalists oversaw the transition from “diamond digging” to the “mining industry” as corporations bought out diggers. The industry became a monopoly by 1889 when De Beers Consolidated Mines, controlled by Cecil Rhodes, became the sole producer. From the mid-1880s the workforce consisted mainly of Black migrant workers housed in closed compounds.

The Kimberley diamond fields, and later discoveries in Gauteng, the Free State, and along the Atlantic coast, proved to be significant sources of gem-quality diamonds, securing South Africa’s position as the world’s leading producer in the mid-twentieth century.