INDIA

A History of Diamond Production: India: The Birthplace of Diamond Mining

If Mother Nature hadn’t salted many ancient river beds with loose diamonds, the history of this gem would not have begun until the late 19th century. Thankfully, that history had been going strong for 2,500 years when miners in South Africa finally found the first of earth’s main storage bins for this gem: extinct volcanoes lined with diamond-embedded rock. Until then, the world depended on one alluvial source: India.

For at least 2,000 years, starting somewhere between 800 and 400 BC, nearly all of the world’s diamonds were found in India. Yes, some came from what is now Borneo; but it was India that was the birthplace of diamond mining and commerce. India boasted five diamond-producing districts—the main one, Golconda, located in the south near the Bay of Bengal. The history of diamonds in India is a useful antidote for those who think the Diamond Mystique is a modern-day invention of De Beers. We won’t deny that the company has done its utmost to embellish this mystique; but they only built on a long-standing tradition of reverence for this gem. Some facts you should know:

The rajahs of ancient India thought of diamonds the way governments used to think of gold: as the greatest store of value and form of tangible wealth that there was. Therefore diamonds were to be hoarded not traded. In fact, some historians believe that the relatively few diamonds exported from India to ancient Greece and Rome were industrial diamonds used in drilling and engraving tools—and not in jewelry. So the name ‘adamas’ given to the diamond paid homage to its durability rather than its optics or beauty. Incredible as it may seem, the diamonds that ancient writers like Pliny extolled as “invincible” were probably tiny, misshapen dregs of little value.

If fine diamonds left ancient India, they most likely left as tribute or contraband. So prized and guarded were a prince’s diamonds and diamond fields that the first eye-witness account of Indian diamond mining—written by French traveler and trader J.B. Tavernier—wasn’t published until 1670. That means nearly 2,000 years of top secrecy. Nevertheless, on the basis of hardness alone the diamond attained a legendary status throughout the world of antiquity. The diamond’s modern stature as a gem of incomparable beauty doesn’t begin until men learn to cut it. This takes us to 15th century Europe and a time when India’s mines were showing advanced signs of depletion.