Episode 289 - Black Velvet Opskop, De Beers’ Trojan Horse, an Historic Trick and a Multi-Racial Miner Protest
About this episode
The episode discusses Cecil Rhodes' influence on the diamond industry in South Africa and the complexities of mining claims in Kimberley during the late 19th century.
It could be said that Cecil Rhodes quest for hegemony over the diamond industry of South Africa was quickened by rumours of significant gold discoveries in the Transvaal. Others say not, because no-one was aware in these heady days of just how valuable the Motherlode of Main Reef was to become. First a quick note. The easiest way to picture Kimberley in 1886–87 is not as a collection of neatly separated modern mining companies, each with its own mine. It was more like a gigantic underground chessboard, where the four great diamond mines around Kimberley—De Beers, Kimberley, Dutoitspan and Bultfontein—had originally been divided into hundreds of individual claims. A claim was essentially a small piece of ground, and in the early days an individual digger or small partnership could own one or several of them. As the workings became deeper and more dangerous, those little claims were progressively bundled together into larger holdings and companies. By the mid-1880s, therefore, you had companies that owned groups of claims inside a particular mine, while the word "mine" referred to the entire diamond-bearing pipe or working area. So, if you were standing in Kimberley in 1886 and…
People in this episode
Host: Desmond Latham
Topics covered
- diamond industry
- Cecil Rhodes
- mining history
- South Africa
- multi-racial protests
Keywords
- Cecil Rhodes
- diamond mining
- Kimberley
- De Beers
- Transvaal
- mining claims
- South Africa
- history
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: De Beers, French Company, Standard
Places: Transvaal, Kimberley, Dutoitspan, Bultfontein, Kimberley Mine, Kimberley Central
More episodes of History of South Africa podcast
- Episode 291 - The Miracle of South Africa’s Railways: Navvies, Gangers and Granny Mavis
- Episode 290 - Africanders, Afrikaners and the Sprigg/Hofmeyr/Rhodes Voter Disenfranchisement of 1887-1892
- Episode 288 - Squabbling Europeans Dissect Africa and the Sultan of Zanzibar gets Shafted
- Episode 287 - "Not Worth Hell Room" — JB Robinson, Widow Oosthuizen, and the Witwatersrand Gold Grab
- Episode 286 - German Mercenary von Brandis formally Proclaims Johannesburg
- Episode 285 - The Three Georges Gold Saga and a Bottle of Mampoer Vignette
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