Diamonds, Gold and Cecil Rhodes in Southern Africa

Mineral discoveries transformed southern Africa and pulled Britain deeper into the region. Diamonds were found near the Orange River in 1867, leading to the Kimberley diamond rush of 1871, and in 1886 vast gold deposits were discovered on the Witwatersrand in the Boer-run South African Republic, also called the Transvaal. Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman, built the De Beers diamond company into a near monopoly by 1888 and became prime minister of the Cape Colony in 1890.

He dreamed of British rule stretching from the Cape to Cairo, and his British South Africa Company, chartered in 1889, occupied the lands that became Rhodesia, defeating the Ndebele in 1893 and suppressing the risings of the Ndebele and Shona in 1896–97. Mining depended on African migrant workers who were housed in closed compounds and paid low wages. In 1895–96 Rhodes backed the failed Jameson Raid against the Transvaal, which forced his resignation and worsened tensions that led to war in 1899.