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Article: The Last Empire: De Beers Diamonds and the World.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- March 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Diamonds: crystallised history, romance, avarice, treachery, The Moonstone, the Koh-I-Noor, A Girl's Best Friend. Far Away From India and Brazil came the stones and their fantastic stories.
In the meantime Africa slept frugally under a godly Boer moon -- until 1867. A farm lad on the de Beers farm found a 'mooi klip' (a pretty pebble) which he gave to his sister. It was passed on to a friend who thought it could be a diamond. But it took two years before experts and merchants could believe it. By 1871 the great rush had begun, with Cecil Rhodes still only eighteen in the group of investors who bought up the de Beers farm.
For the next thirty years the story of ...