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Fragments meaning6/14/2023 ![]() ![]() "The British government in London and the Cape worked hard to bring the area under their jurisdiction to keep a lucrative industry within the British empire …," Professor Kinsey said.īy the turn of the 20th century, the Boer war broke out and British forces used brutal tactics to crush the resistance, until the conflict ended in 1902.įive years later, the colonial government in South Africa presented the diamond to Edward VII, who reigned over the territory, as a token of loyalty on the king's birthday. Others who had a claim on the territory, she said, included Indigenous groups, the Orange Free State, and German missionaries. They limited their movement, and created a legal system that incarcerated a lot of African males, who were then used in mining work, as convict labour," she said.įor the next few decades, authorities in the Cape Colony as well as Britain sought to claim the "Diamond Fields", as they were known, as part of their jurisdiction, she said. ![]() Since 1867 the discovery of diamond deposits in southern Africa meant the then-government passed, and enforced, a number of laws that, among other things, compelled African men to work in the mines, explained Danielle Kinsey, who specialises in British history at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada ( Getty Images: Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho) ![]() The Cullinan was divided into nine separate pieces, the largest (pictured) dubbed Great Star of Africa. The story of how the large diamond ended up in the British royal collection is a complicated one. Roughly the size of a human heart and with an extraordinary blue-white colour, according to the Royal Asscher, the precious stone was the largest gem-quality, rough-cut diamond ever found.īut the Cullinan sat on the market for two years without a buyer until it was purchased by the colonial government in South Africa in 1907 for 150,000 pounds (15 million pounds, $28 million in today's money). The Cullinan diamond was discovered in a large mine in South Africa in 1905, weighing a remarkable 3,106 carats and sending a ripple of excitement around the world. The turbulent history behind the Cullinan It is a history of denying Africans their humanity and their rights," University of South Africa professor Everisto Benyera said. "The history of the Cullinan diamond is an epitome of the history of colonialism and imperialism. However, a South African scholar argues these jewels are also a remnant of Britain's brutal colonial past. It will instead feature three other diamonds from the royal collection: the Cullinan III, IV and V. The controversy threatened to overshadow King Charles's celebrations until the royal family announced the coronation crown would be reset without the stone or its crystal quartz replica. Its return to the spotlight prompted a swift backlash from Indians who say it should be returned to their country. The Queen Consort had been widely expected to wear the crown that Queen Elizabeth wore to her husband's coronation in 1937, adorned with a 105-carat, oval-shaped diamond known as the Kohinoor.īelieved to be the world's most expensive diamond, the Kohinoor has been fought over for centuries. ![]()
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