Glittering gems – mining for diamonds

India is the home of the diamond. Here, before the 4th millennium BC, people first discovered this compressed, crystalline carbon. Its name comes from the Greek ‘adamas’, meaning ‘impenetrably hard’. Valued as gems as well as for cutting, diamonds were traded between India and Mesopotamia, where they were worn to bring success from the 3rd millennium BC, if not earlier. Until 1870, the year they were discovered in volcanic rock in Kimberley, South Africa, all diamonds had been found in sand and gravel.

The craft of cutting diamonds to create reflective facets began during the 15th century. Until then stones were simply polished or shaped into a dome known as a ‘cabochon’. In 1477 Maximilian I, the future Roman Emperor, gave the first known diamond engagement ring, to Mary of Burgundy.

Stone of office

The world’s largest diamond was set in the British monarch’s Sceptre with the Cross (pictured) in 1910. It was cut from the Cullinan Diamond, mined in South Africa near Pretoria in 1905.