History of Diamonds

Diamonds were formed from carbon eons ago under intense heat and pressure deep inside the bowls of the earth. Through volcanic eruptions millions of years ago forced volcanic lava, which contained diamond bearing igneous rocks, to come to the surface, and lay scattered in the ocean beds and riverbeds.

The initial discovery of alluvial diamond took place in India in around 800 B.C. The volcanic origin of these diamonds could not be established. But, these alluvial diamonds were continuously sourced the supply of the world’s best diamonds up to recent times.

It must be noted that only 20% of the mined diamonds are considered to be of gem quality. Average statistics reveals that up to 250 Tons of gravel and sand of diamond deposits must be processed to get a yield of one rough diamond.

Major portion of about 75% of the total yield of diamond is used for various industrial uses like drilling, grinding or sawing. Rest is considered for uses in jewellery or investment depending upon its superior quality.

The potential reserve of superior quality, on an average, has to mine out of about 250 tons of ore and undertake processing to obtain one carat of gem quality diamond. After these main tasks are over, it is the job of the sorters to segregate the rough diamonds according to their size, shape and quality – a long and arduous process.

The art and science of diamond polishing is also pioneered by Indians and as per the relevant record date’s way back to fourteenth century. The earliest record of diamond cutting was at Antwerp in 1550, the place at that time was the epicenter of diamond related activities. It is noteworthy that ultimately a diamond cutters guild was established in due course.

With the Indian diamond source gradually dwindling, there were spurred activity all over the world for diamond sources which resulted discovery of Brazilian diamond resource and that became the next important diamond source. In 1886, South Aprica ‘s massive diamond deposits were discovered. South African source of diamond remain unraveled till major deposits were found in Siberia in 1954. But, the newest diamond rush as on today is in Western Canada.

Throughout the major part of the diamond history, diamonds were mined from sand and gravel surrounding rivers. In South Africa, however, diamonds were found in earth far away from river source. That’s how dry digging for diamond mining started. Sophisticated mining technique allows deeper digging as well as riverbed mining and marine mining.

Initial discovery of diamond in India and its passage throughout the world followed different routes: the southern route was by way of Aden, Ethiopia and Egypt, the northern route was through Arabia, Persia, Armenia and Turkey. Afterwards due to the discovery of sea route by Portuguese, as mentioned earlier, Antwerp became a center of diamond activities as the city had the advantage of getting supply of rough stones from Lisbon and Venice.