Brazil had been the principal source of diamonds for at least 150 years. No one thought that the region might contain diamonds, or had thought to search for any precious stones. This region of South Africa, near the junction of the Orange and Vaal rivers, was one of several destinations for thousands of European settlers (mainly Dutch and English) who had travelled from the coast towards the interior of the country to farm and raise livestock. 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. The classical Roman scholar Pliny wrote: “ Maximum in rebus humanis, non solum inter gemmas, pretium habet adamas” (Among all human things, not only among gems, the diamond is the most precious). Comprehensive CAD/CAM For Jewellery CertificateĪpplied Jewelry Professional ™ Online DiplomaĪ view of the Kimberley Diamond Mine in South Africa, taken from a booklet entitled, “A Short Sketch of the African Diamond Mines”, published in 1881 by Alfred H.