Summary of Martin Meredith's Diamonds, Gold, and War

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The rush to the diamond fields of Griqualand turned into a frantic escapade that one Cape Town newspaper likened to a dangerous madness. The mining settlements of Griqualand soon came to be renowned as much for despair, disease, and death as for the fortunes made there. #2 In 1870, young Cecil Rhodes was sent to Natal from England to join his brother Herbert in a cotton-farming venture in the colony. He met a British army officer, Captain Loftus Rolleston, who had recently returned from diamond diggings on the banks of the Vaal River. #3 The first diamond was discovered by accident in 1866. It was picked up by a Boer farmer’s son, and used to play children’s games of five-stones. A neighbor, Schalk van Niekerk, saw the stone several weeks later and thought it might have some value. #4 The diamond rush at Dutoitspan and Bultfontein in 1870 was the result of two extinct volcanoes containing unimaginable riches. The yellow ground beneath the farms, which was rich in diamonds, extended as far as sixty feet below the surface.