Diamond Blurb - Heart In Diamond
The worlds love affair with diamonds started in India where people gathered the stones from bodies of water and traded them at market as early as fourth century BC. As time passed, Indian diamonds traveled to Western Europe and medieval markets in Venice. By the 1400s, Europes wealthiest citizens wore the beautiful gemstones as fashion accessories. After the Indian diamond supply dwindled, the world set its sights on Kimberley, South Africa. In 1866, entrepreneur Cecil Rhodes discovered diamonds and found a way to produce, market, cut, and polish rough gemstones through efficient mining techniques. By the 1990s, annual production of diamonds surpassed 100 million carats yearly making it a very profitable industry worldwide.