Throughout the course of history, men have found the shine and attractiveness of the stone to be irresistible. AS a matter of fact, things haven’t changed much even today. When diamonds were not really considered precious possessions back in the day, there weren’t many wars or deaths associated with these gems. But as soon as their inherent value was understood, it triggered a chain reaction that forced men to do horrible things for possessing these precious stones.

There have been many famous diamonds through history including the Kohinoor, the Shalimar, and the Cullinan diamond – to name a few. Each one of these magnificent stones comes with its own trail of blood and bodies strewn behind as men went to great lengths to possess these legendary gems.

Hard Fact: Blood diamonds or conflict diamonds are diamonds that are either mined illegally or stolen from legitimate mines and then sold on the black market. The proceeds from such diamonds are used to fuel terrorism, war and insurgency.

When Africa found its first diamond mines way back in the early 1800’s, most of the mine owners were either Jewish or Englishmen. The century was one of British dominance in the great African continent. The aboriginals of Africa were being enslaved, victimized and slaughtered in hundreds and thousands. They were forced to work the mines and dig out the stones for the owners. Working conditions were such that dozens of slaves died every day.

Initially the enslaved workers had no idea about the value of the diamonds. But once they realized how precious these stones were, efforts to steal and pillage the stones for themselves started in earnest. The mine owners too recognized this and were known to take extremely severe steps to stop theft. Strip searches were the norm and any worker found stealing was either flogged in public or summarily executed.

In addition to the workers themselves, roving bandits and others would also try to sneak into mines to grab some diamonds. To keep these in check, the mine owners surrounded their stakes with land mines and similar barriers. Guards with watch dogs trained to kill were also deployed. Many men lost their lives or were handicapped for life. Of course, this rarely stopped others from trying.

More recently, in the last few decades, diamonds have also been used to finance coup; insurgents have used the money generated from stolen, illegal diamonds to overthrow governments or spread terror among innocent people. This phenomenon was so widespread that the United Nations had to intervene. Following a meeting of all diamond producing nations, the UN officially introduced the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) requirements in 2003.

Today, Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is enforced and except for a few aberrations, all diamonds produced anywhere in the world pass through this certification and scheme.

Diamonds have been attracting mankind from times immemorial and are likely to continue doing so for the next several millennia.

Thus began the love story of a man with diamonds. That love story started around 3000 years (in other words, 30 centuries) ago. The far forgotten land was some place in the Southern part of India (as per popular belief).  And the man who found the first diamond… Well, no one really knows who found the first diamond. What is definitely known though is that since then men have done the most amazing and romantic things with these sparkling stones to celebrate their beauty. And, at the same time, some men have also done the most horrible and imaginable thingspossible to get their hands on these precious stones.

Interesting Trivia: For nearly 500 years, diamonds were known only in India. The rest of the world had no idea that such an exquisite stone existed!!!

So who introduced diamonds to the rest of the world?

Some historical facts point the finger toward Alexander the Great of Macedonia. It is believed that he first took diamonds back to Europe with him when he returned to Greece after his conquest of India. That would mean diamonds traveled from India to Europe sometime around 327 BC. That’s even before Christ was born!

Maybe the ancient Indians knew about the value of diamonds and used them in jewelry… or maybe they did not. There’s no record. But what is historically known is that in the second century AD, a Hungarian queen had diamonds set on her new crown. Much later, in 1477 AD, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, presented an engagement ring to his soon to be queen – Mary of Burgundy. The ring was set with diamonds and started a trend that continues till date – that of getting engaged with a diamond ring.

Going back a bit, cutting and polishing of natural diamonds was as yet an unknown process. No one knew how to cut diamonds until the 13^th century. It was only in 1375 that the Point Cut was created. Up until then, only the best naturally formed diamonds were used for jewelry or decorative purposes. The rest were discarded.

Fact: Until the 14^th century, only best naturally formed diamonds were used for jewelry or decorative purposes; the rest were discarded since no one knew how to cut and polish the stones with rough edges. 

Increasingly thereafter, various new cuts were developed and the demand of diamonds as objects of desire and their use in jewelry increased.

In the 18^th century, India ran out of diamonds, but new supplies were discovered in Brazil. About a century and a half later, South Africa took over as the diamond producing capital of the world. It was South Africa that gave birth to the world’s largest diamond producing organization – the De Beers Corporation. As newer diamond deposits were discovered in various countries around the world, the reach of diamonds increased. What was once an object of desire and flauntedby only the rich and elite, now started reaching the masses.

In the last couple of centuries, these stunningly brilliant stones have gone through many upheavals and changes. But their allure and attraction has remained unchanged.

What will be the future of these sparkling stones? Only time will tell…