We do not know when the first diamond was discovered, however we do know, from an ancient text from the fourth Century B.C., that diamonds were already being exchanged in India. Up until the 18th Century, India remained the only supplier. The Greeks did not know diamonds (even though the name derives from the Greek “adamas” = invincible). The Romans, however, used them both for aggravations and as talismans. However til the Middle Ages, the Persians and the Arabs shared the diamond monpoly. In the 13th Century, Venice became the greatest Western commercial power and, thanks to the Doges, many diamonds were brought to Antwerp. The legend goes that it was Lodewijk van Berckem who invented the diamond cut. The 18th Century brought in a change: the Indian mines became exhausted, but, by

coincidence, in 1725 large singular deposits were found in Brazil. The first reaction was an explosion in the market, the value of the diamonds was very high and the reserves were thought to be inexhaustible. This caused a drop in the price of rough stones, but not of the processed ones which, on the contrary, went up in value due to the notable rise in demand. Contemporarily many factories for the processing of diamonds were established. However, they were not destined to last long, since the raw material soon became exhausted. In 1886, when the reserves were thought to be extinguished, an African farmer found a diamond in the Oranje River. Two years later the legendary “Star of Africa” was found, and the diamond boom began. Thus began the war between Cecil Rhodes (owner of the Kimberley mines) and Barney Barnato, which lasted until the time of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, who in 1931 founded De Beers, which still controls 90% of the World diamond market today.