In 1866 a young boy found a white pebble on the banks of the Orange River close to where it joins the Vaal River. This discovery lead to the great South African diamond rush for he had found a diamond that was later called Eureka! Shortly after that a huge 83 carat diamond was acquired from a Griqua shepherd by Schalk van Niekerk. This diamond became known as the Star of Africa. Prospectors still sift the gravel beds of the Vaal and Orange rivers for diamonds, though their finds are now few and far between.
Several important battles took place around Kimberley during the Anglo-Boer War and the town was besieged by Boer forces. Boer trenches can still be seen in the area and Kimberley's museums house uniforms, weaponry and equipment used during the war.
In 1871, diamond deposits found on a hill called Colesberg Kopje on a farm, owned by the De Beers brothers, led to a mad scramble for fame and fortune and the world’s largest, hand-dug excavation, the colossal Kimberley Mine or Big Hole.
By 1872, the tents and shacks of more than 50 000 feverish diggers crowded New Rush, the mining town surrounding the hill. Overcrowding, insufficient water, unsanitary conditions, disease, heat, dust and flies were ever present problems in the mining town’s early days.
In 1873, the town was renamed Kimberley, after the Earl of Kimberley, British Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Three mines, Du Toitspan, Wesselton and Bultfontein, are still worked and a surface and underground tour is an unforgettable experience. The Kimberley Mine was closed in 1914. Covering 17ha, it reached a depth of 1 097m and yielded three tons of diamonds.
Today, it is a prosperous, thriving metropolis worthy of the title, ‘the Diamond Capital of the world’. The Victorian grandeur of stately buildings complement the modern buildings towering over them. Lacking the furious pace of South Africa’s larger urban giants, it is perhaps the country’s most innovative town.
On 18 February 1854 a town was laid out with a Dutch Reformed Church - a rough frontier-type building made of mud and manure. The origin of the name Hopetown is odd. It is said the widow of the first owner of the farm, De Kalk, wore a small anchor.
A servant was told it represented hope and made an imitation from tin which was nailed to the farm entrance. In 1866 the first diamond, the Eureka, was found here.
The town was founded in 1848 as a mission station on the farm Backhouse by the Reverend Isaac Hughes. In 1867, a group of Europeans from Griquatown signed an agreement giving them the right to establish a town. The town was named after General Sir Robert Percy Douglas, Lieutenant Governor of the Cape Colony.
The site of the first diamond diggings in Africa is now a national monument. Barkly West stands on the Vaal River close to the fording place called Klip Drift. It is over-looked by Canteen Koppie, a hillock that has signs of occupation going back to prehistoric times. Numerous artifacts left by early inhabitants have been found here. Many unexpected pools, breakwaters and waterfalls in the course of the river are reminders of the feverish mining activities of the last century. For 150 kilometers the Vaal gravels are rich in diamonds, gemstones and decorative pebbles. To this day diggings still attract many prospectors.
In 1871, diamond deposits found on a hill called Colesberg Kopje on a farm, owned by the De Beers brothers, led to a mad scramble for fame and fortune and the world’s largest, hand-dug excavation, the colossal Kimberley Mine or Big Hole.
On 18 February 1854 a town was laid out with a Dutch Reformed Church - a rough frontier-type building made of mud and manure. The origin of the name Hopetown is odd. It is said the widow of the first owner of the farm, De Kalk, wore a small anchor.