Kimberley Diamond Route

When a young man by the name of Erasmus Jacobs set off on a walk in 1866 little did he know that what was about to happen would change the history of South Africa. While walking he picked up a shiny pebble and put it in his pocket only to discover that it was the Eureka, a 21-carat diamond. Subsequent diamond discoveries, such as the Star of South Africa, an 83-carat stone, sparked a diamond rush that attracted treasure hunters from all over the world.

These discoveries also led to the excavation of the aptly named Big Hole. Mined to a depth of about 240m, and with a surface area of about 17ha and a perimeter of about 1.6km, it is the largest hand-dug excavation in the world. When work on the mine was suspended on August 14 1914, a total of 22.5 million tons of earth had been excavated, yielding 2 722kg of diamonds. Buildings sprang up around the verges of this Big Hole and the town of Kimberley was born. The town is named after the Earl of Kimberley, the British Colonial Secretary at the time. The twin town of Beaconsfield was established as a centre for the diggings of Bultfontein, Dutoitspan and later Wesselton. Kimberley and Beaconsfield eventually combined in 1913 and became one city.

The diamonds were discovered on the farm of Johannes Nicolaas and Diederik Arnoldus de Beer. They sold the farm, and though they did not become the owners of the mines, one of the mines inherited their name. Two big mines were formed: the De Beers and Kimberley mines. Cecil John Rhodes and Charles Rudd gained control of both mines and merged them, forming De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd in 1888, the company which today controls virtually the majority of diamond mines on Earth.

Diamonds:

The name diamond comes from the Greek word adamas meaning 'unconquerable'. Diamonds are made up of pure carbon and are the hardest natural substance in the world. Diamonds were formed very deep beneath the Earth’s surface and are approximately three-quarters of the age of the earth. Diamonds are formed through crystallisation, under immense heat and pressure and brought to the surface through volcanic explosions. The magma then cools and solidifies as kimberlite ore – the primary sources where diamonds are found today. Humans only discovered diamonds about 4 000 years ago in riverbeds in the Golconda region in India.

De Beers introduced four factors to measure diamond quality in 1939 for consumers to be able to evaluate diamonds. The four factors are cut, colour, carat and clarity. Colour, clarity and carat are dictated by nature while humans directly influence cut.

The tradition of having a diamond engagement ring is probably one of the greatest advertising campaigns ever. Diamonds only became the traditional engagement stones around the end of the recession in the 1930s: De Beers spent about US$1.7 million a year to establish the diamond engagement ring as a sacrament, a spiritual thing: the slogan “a diamonds is forever” was coined in 1947 and was voted slogan of the century by Advertising Age magazine in 1999. They got Hollywood involved by encouraging the female stars to wear diamonds, and by creating films like Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, in which Marilyn Monroe sang “Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend”.

Surrounding Kimberley are many memorials and sites of some important battles of the Anglo-Boer war, most notably the Siege of Kimberley in 1899 with the famous “Long Cecil”, a gun named after Cecil Rhodes, on display, and the battlefield site of Magersfontein where Boer General, Piet Cronje, used trench warfare for the first time.

The Anglo-Boer War:

The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) was not merely another war in South Africa's tapestry of conflict but an event that left a lasting legacy on the nation's modern history. Both sides predicted a quick victory but found the reality of this war very different as the struggle engulfed the entire country. Not only were the Transvaal and Orange Free State Boer forces pitted against the might of professional and volunteer soldiers from the British Empire, but innocent bystanders, among them South Africa’s African, Coloured and Indian people, were drawn into the war. About 100 000 black and coloured people served with the British Army and at least 10 000 with the Boer forces, some of them as active and armed soldiers.

On October 14 1899, Kimberley was surrounded by Boer forces. Four months of boredom, disease, death and general misery lay ahead. The Boer strategy was to shell Kimberley and at the same time starve the garrison into surrender by sealing off all outside supplies. During the Siege of Kimberley, the military was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kekewich and he had to cope with Cecil John Rhodes who sometimes had only harsh words for the Colonel’s men. In fact, at one stage, Rhodes threatened to surrender Kimberley to the Boers in order to put a stop to Kimberley’s misery. This threat of Rhodes was taken seriously and forced a change in the entire British strategy. Instead of advancing on Bloemfontein, the relief of Kimberley became the highest priority.

In their northward advance the British repeatedly came up against the Boers and many a battle was fought. On November 23 1899, the British forces under command of Lord Methuen clashed with the Boers at Belmont. The Boers were beaten off only to clash again with the British forces at Graspan on November 25 1899. By now, Boer General Prinsloo’s Free State commandos had been reinforced by the Transvaal commandos of General de la Rey. However, the Boers again fell back to the banks of the Modder River where they fought the Battle of Modder River on November 28 1899. Again the Boers had to abandon their positions. They withdrew but then dug in at the foot of the Magersfontein hills, which became the scene of one of the most epic Boer victories of the entire war.

British artillery opened fire on the Magersfontein hills on the afternoon of December 10 1899. This signalled to the Boer forces that an all-out attack was imminent. However, as at Modder River, the Boers had made use of trenches, which, as they advanced, took the British by surprise. It laid the foundation for an emphatic victory for the Boers. The British forces suffered approximately 976 casualties of whom 244 died. The Boers had some 250 casualties of whom 105 died.

It was not before February 15 1900 that Kimberley was relieved by the British cavalry under General French. One last major battle had still to be fought in the Western campaign of the war, The Battle of Paardeberg. On February 18 1900, the British forces under command of Lord Kitchener surrounded the Boers at Paardeberg. The next morning, Lord Roberts took charge of the British forces to continue with the battle. It was to become the longest and largest battle of the entire war, ending with the Boers surrendering on February 27 1900. The Boer forces suffered many casualties ?"? 200 men were killed, 250 were wounded and 4 096 men were captured. British losses were 258 killed, 1 211 wounded and 86 taken prisoner.

History:

Kimberley was one of the fastest-developing towns in the country at the time and boasts with a long list of Firsts in the country, including:

• 1882: first city in the Southern Hemisphere to install electric street lighting;
• 1890: first Seventh Day Adventist Church in SA established by Pieter Wessels; declared a National Monument in 1967;
• 1891: Henrietta Stockdale became the first matron of the new Kimberley hospital;
• first city in South Africa to switch on an automatic telephone exchange;
• first stock exchange in South Africa;
• 1904: first electric tram in South Africa;
• 1904: first city or town to manufacture compressed bricks and terracotta ornaments;
• 1912: first woman trained as a pilot;
• 1931: first airport to install lighting equipment and first night landing by a pilot;
• 1954: first state school for physically disabled;
• 1969: first woman judge: Miss Justice Leonora van de Heever;
• 1976: first housing scheme, Ipopeng in Galeshewe, for black mine workers;
• 1983: first black town council: Galeshewe;
• 1983: first coloured priest to become a bishop;
• 1992: first city council to amalgamate all group areas.

Human history in Kimberley, however, dates back long before the establishment of the mines and the town. There are numerous examples of rock art in the Northern Cape and Wildebeest Kuil, which is situated between Kimberley and Barkly West, is just one of the many interesting sites in the region.

Rock art at Wildebeest Kuil:

There are about 15 000 recorded rock art sites in South Africa and probably just as many that have not yet been recorded. The art occurs in two forms: engravings and paintings. Engravings are found mostly on the dry inland plateau of South Africa, while paintings occur mostly in the mountainous areas, such as the Drakensberg and the Cederberg.

Most of the rock art in Southern Africa was made by Later Stone Age people, ancestors of the historical San, or Bushmen. People who called themselves /Xam from the northern Karoo and the Postmasburg District, who were interviewed in the 1870's, said their fathers had made engravings of various animals. In some regions rock art has been linked to Khoekhoe herders and to Iron Age Bantu-speaking farmers.
 
The engravings at Wildebeest Kuil were made by the 'pecking' technique: a hard, pointed stone was used to chisel away the outer crust of the rock, exposing the lighter coloured rock beneath. With time, the exposed portions become as dark as the outer crust through the build-up of patina.
 
It is not known exactly how old the engravings at Wildebeest Kuil are, but it is estimated they were made between 1 000 and 2 000 years ago. Engraved stones have been found at Wonderwerk Cave near Kuruman in levels dating between 2 000 and 10 000 years ago and rock paintings have been dated in southern Namibia to about 27 000 years ago, indicating that the tradition of Southern African art is not recent.
 
The engravings are not the products of idle doodling, nor of straightforward zoological documentation or narrative, but comprise a sophisticated religious art associated with ritual specialists in Bushman or San society called medicine people or shamans. These people were believed to use the power they received through controlled use of trance to heal the sick, control animals and make rain. It is suggested that many of the engravings were inspired by visions experienced during trance, and were depicted on the rocks so that others could share and draw inspiration from them. They may relate particularly to rain-making rituals.

Sites chosen by the artists for their engravings were probably significant places in local beliefs. The andesite rock surfaces at Wildebeest Kuil may have been, to the artists, a kind of interface with the spirit world. A number of curious “unfinished” images of animals at Wildebeest Kuil, for instance, are perhaps testimony to this, possibly representing the metaphysical power being 'lured' from one spiritual realm to another. Similarly, the magical expanses of smooth, glaciated rock surface at Driekopseiland and Nooitgedacht may have been marked with rock art because they were in some way special places in local religious belief.
 
Some engravings from Wildebeest Kuil were removed and exhibited at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886, and are currently in the collection of the British Museum. Early removals of the art were often rationalised in terms of preserving the art in museum contexts. We now know that placement of the art within a site was significant, so removal destroys part of its meaning.

Eco-tourism:

Kimberley and the surrounding areas offer interesting opportunities for eco-tourism. The Kamfers Dam wetland on the outskirts of Kimberley has Natural Heritage status. The dam, with its extensive reed beds, is fed by treated sewerage waters and is home to a large variety of resident, migratory and nomadic birds.

About 186 species of birds live in or visit the wetlands, representing 62 avian families. However, the dam area is best known for the flocks of lesser and greater flamingos that can be seen from far away as a large pinkish patch on the water. Only when you are close by will you recognise the pink cloud as thousands of large white birds with their long pink legs, pink beaks, pink patches on their feathers and gracefully bowed necks.

Kimberley is also becoming well known among enthusiasts for its fly fishing prospects. Those in the know say that it is one of the most exciting angling challenges one can attempt – catching the spirited yellow fish along the 200km stretch of Vaal River that flows through the province. After you have triumphed over your tough, cold-blooded adversary, take time to lie on the banks of the river and appreciate the scenery.

Kimberley Mine Museum:

A visit to the Kimberley Mine Museum, which consists of a reconstructed mining town, is a must. You will be able to see how the miners lived in the time of the diamond rush in Kimberley.

Useful Links

http://www.kimberley.co.za
http://http://www.musuemsnc.co.za
http://www.debeers.com
http://www.northerncape.org.za/regdiamond.html
http://www.southafrica.net

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