Mineral Revolution Essay

325 Words2 Pages
Diamond mining Changes The mineral revolution brought about great changes for South Africans. Before the revolution, most South Africans lived off the land in subsistence societies. Towards the end of the 19th century, South Africa was not one united country, it was separated into different areas, some of them were controlled by the British, some by the Boers and others were independent. At first, the economy revolved around trade and agriculture, but the discovery of diamonds changed all this. Migrant labour A migrant labourer is someone who moves away from their homes for a long period of time. Due to a shortage of labour, more African people were forced by the authorities to become labourers on white farms, but they didn’t want to sell their labour. They preferred to live off the land, which they have always done. Once diamonds and gold were discovered, there was a much bigger need for African labour. Effects A year after the discovery of diamonds in Kimberly, it was the second largest town in the country, Cape Town being the first. Within four years, 50 000 people lived there, all involved in mining, either directly or indirectly. Discoveries Immediately after the first diamonds were discovered, many people hurried to the banks of the Vaal River to make a claim to a piece of ground. They were allowed to sell any diamonds found there. A while later diamonds were discovered about 20 km south of the Vaal River, at a place called Colesberg Kopje and this was where Kimberly developed and people, once again made claims to this area, but as time went by, the mines became deeper and it became difficult for people to dig out the diamonds. The many small claims from earlier years eventually became replaced by a couple of big companies who controlled the mining industry such as De Beers Consolidated Mines. Bibliography • People in place and time
Open Document