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The Keate award In 1871 Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, RW Keate, was the judge in a legal court case to decide on the ownership of f t the 'diamond fields. Keate decided that the Griqua had the strongest case, and awarded the whole area to them. The Griqua became the British Colony of Griqualand West in 1872. It became part of the Cape were persuaded d to ask for British protection against the boers. The diamond fields Colony in 1880. Griqualand West emem Keate Award 1871 Kurumane Griquatown e (GAIQUA) (TLHAPING) Hopetowne CAPE COLONY Harts (GRIQUA) SOUTH AFRICAN AEPUBLIC Klipdrift (Barkiy West) Kimberley Orange Bultfonteine Modoer ORANGE FREE STATE Source A: Griqualand West and the Keate award 1871 [08/03, 22:05] Ayush: Unit 3: Diamond mining and the development of a monopoly The first major diamond discoveries were made near Barkley West along the 'alluvial' diggings. Late, large quantities of diamonds were found in four extinct banks of the Vaal I River Diamonds were found near the surface of these'wet' or volcano pipes. The biggest of these 'dry' diggings was called 'New Rush and later became known as the Kimberley Mine or the Big Hole. After the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1872, ,diggers hurried to what is today Kimberley. The Big Hole of the Kimberley Mine, the s site of an extinct volcano, was dug by thousands of diggers, each working their own clainm Source B: A recent photograph of the'Big Hole' at Kimberley mines One person one claim For the first ten years of diamond mining at Kimberley, individual diggers each owned a small square of land called a'claim!. Each person was only allowed one claim. And the size of the claim was limited. This stopped people with lots of money buying up lots of claims.The laws worked in the interests of small, independent diggers. When a digger arrived at his site, he marked out a square with wooden comer pegs and string. But as diggers dug deeper, the'walls' between the claims began collapse and mines filled with falling rock. [08/03, 22:05] Ayush: What happened to black claim holders? About two thirds of the people who came to the điamond fhelds were black. They came from all parts of southern Africa. The other third were white people who came fromn the surrounding republics and colonies, as well from Australia, Britain and America. At first there were both black and white claim holders. The white clainm holders outnumbered the black ones. In the early 1870s white claim holders ganged up against black claim holders and attacked them. The British had, by this time, taken Over control of the diamond fields and they made a law which made it illegal for black people to own claims. Black men then worked for white diggers on their claims. The more successful claim holders put pressure on the British government to change the law which prevented one individual from owning more than one claim. In 1876, new laws were passed. The new laws lifted all restrictions on daim holding and wealthier diggers began buying more claims. Source C: Diggers working claims at Kimberley Mine Problems related to digging deeper Mines were dug deeper and deeper, and the walls' between claims gradually collapsed. Claim holders had to agree to leave a wider wall for pathways between claims. The deeper the mine, the more difficult it became to pull buckets of soil and gravel out ofa mine)The soil and gravel had to be separated and sifted to find diamonds.,) The deeper the mines went, the more difficult it became to drain them of water. By the late 1870s it was no longer possible for a claim holder with a few workers to mine successfully without money to buy machinery. Small diggers soon went out of business. ACTIVITY 2 Analyse and interpret information from sources Assessment aims and skills: 2, 6, 7) Look at Source Cabove and read the text. Explain why many small diggers went out of business when they dug deeper. Write a paragraph, using information in this unit, to explain how black miners were discriminated against. [08/03, 22:06] Ayush: Cecil John Rhodes Key word monopoly - to have all the pOwer in an industry 136) Ternm 1 The formation of companies There was an economic depression in 1881-82. .During a depression, businesses close down, people lose their jobs, the cost of living increases were forced to sell their claims Soon wealthier diggers got together and formed companies. In the 1880s, the mines got even deeper. Mining became more difficult for small companies as the equipment was so expensive. And so the process of amalgamation or joining together of companies continued. More and more diamonds were being dug up. The price of diamonds began to drop as there were to0 many diamonds on the market. Claim holders joined with businessmen by overseas (British, American and western European) bankers and other investors, a few large and powerful and formed companies to buy up blocks of claims and to install modern machinery such as water pumps. Backed companies controlled diamond mining. Adapted from: M Roberts, A History of South Africa. ,Longman History Studies in Source D: The formation of mining companies Depth. Longman UK, 1990, p. 33 Cecil John Rhodes and Barney Barnato Cecil John Rhodes came to southern Africa from Britain in about 1870. when b was seventeen. He was a clever businessman, and made a lot of money from pumping company that pumped water out of mines. In 1880 Rhodes formed the De Beers Mining Company. Within a few years, Rhodes' company had bought up all the claims in the De Beers Mine. Rhodes began buying up claims in other mines. By 1885, Rhodes had control of three of the four mines in the Kimberley area -De Beers, Du Toit's Pan and Bultfontein. Only the main Kimberley Mine, owned by Barney Barnato, remained. (Barney Barnato was born in a poor part of London. He left school at the age of 14His original name was Barnett Isaacs. He worked as a bouncer, a singer, a juggler and a comedian and changed his name to Barney Barnato, Barnato was talkative and had a great sense of humour. His friendly personality drew people to him, and on the diamond fields he soon became a diamond buyer. He made a good profit selling diamonds, and was able to buy the Kimberley Mine. The formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited By 1888, Rhodes and Barnato controlled tWo of the largest diamond mining cOmpanies, Rhodes controlled the De Beers Company and Barnato controlled the Kimberley Central Mining Company. Many smaller companies went banktup in the next big depression - the depression of 1886. This left these two main companies competing against each other for monopoly control over all diamor mining in Kimberley. bankrupt during the depression. They could not sel their diamonds and so, and people have less money to buy luxury goods. Many small diggers went [08/03, 22:07] Ayush: In 1888 Rhodes got a huge loan from the Rothschild International Bank, and bought Barney Barnato's Kimberley Mine. Rhodes' De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited became the owner and controller of the mines and diamonds, , at Kimberley. Regulating | supply and price of diamonds Rhodes'De Beers Consolidated Mines now controlled diamond mining at If too many diamonds were traded or sold at the same time, the price of Kimberley - it l had a monopoly. Only De Beers could trade or sell diamonds. diamonds would fall, and De Beers' profits would fall.Rhodes kept a careful balance between how many diamonds were produced and how many were sold, to keep the prices high to make big profits. De Beers might have controlled the mines, but if they could not control the thefto tof diamonds from mines, the price of diamonds couid drop through illicit diamond buying. Diamonds are small and easy to swallow. Kimberley is a toWn of great wealth and importance. ts population may be roughly estimated at 25 000. It is about 650 miles (about 1 000 km) from Cape Town, with which it is connected by ail, and about 450 miles (about 700 Lkm) from Port Elizabeth, with which it is also in railway communication. Kimberley owes its origin and wealth entirely to the discovery of diamnonds and working of the diamond mines. Where it stands was formerly a desert inhabited by Khoisan, finding a little grazing for their flocks. No one would have dreamt of it ever becoming a Scene of busy industry. Adapted from: Rev. J Watson, Kimberley, South Africa. P. 1. The Primitive Methodist Magazine, Vol. XIl / LXX\, 1890. Source F: Rev. John Watson writes about Kimberley in 1890 ACTIVITY 3 Explain change over time (Assessment aims and skills: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8) 3. Read Source E and the text on these two pages. Explain in a one page essay how the process of amalgamation (joining up) into one company happened on the diamond fields. Your answer will be marked with the rubric on page 244. Key word 2. If this competition continued, what do you think might have happened to the price of diamonds on the market? Explain your answer. A. Read Source F and explain how Kimberley changed. . llicit diamond buying (1DB) - the illegal selling and buying of diamonds Date 1870s 1880 1. Why do you think the competition between Rhodes and Barnatos' companies increased the level of production of diamonds? 1888 Number of claims at Kimberley 1600 400 Source E:The number of claims on the diamond fields 1 To limit the theft and selling of diamonds, black workers were made to live in closed | compounds s throughout the whole term of their contracts.