Blood, Sweat and Earth

Blood, Sweat and Earth
Author: Tijl Vanneste
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2021-09-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789144361

A sweeping history of our enduring passion for diamonds—and the exploitative industry that fuels it. Blood, Sweat and Earth is a hard-hitting historical exposé of the diamond industry, focusing on the exploitation of workers and the environment, the monopolization of uncut diamonds, and how little this has changed over time. It describes the use of forced labor and political oppression by Indian sultans, Portuguese colonizers in Brazil, and Western industrialists in many parts of Africa—as well as the hoarding of diamonds to maintain high prices, from the English East India Company to De Beers. While recent discoveries of diamond deposits in Siberia, Canada, and Australia have brought an end to monopolization, the book shows that advances in the production of synthetic diamonds have not yet been able to eradicate the exploitation caused by the world’s unquenchable thirst for sparkle.

Capital and Labour on the Kimberley Diamond Fields, 1871-1890

Capital and Labour on the Kimberley Diamond Fields, 1871-1890
Author: Robert Vicat Turrell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1987-09-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521333542

Based on new documentary sources, this history of diamond mining in Kimberley is a major study of South Africa's mineral revolution and the formation of De Beers Consolidated Mines, one of the most successful African mining companies.

Stones of Contention

Stones of Contention
Author: Todd Cleveland
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2014-05-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0821444824

Africa supplies the majority of the world’s diamonds, yet consumers generally know little about the origins and history of these precious stones beyond sensationalized media accounts of so-called blood diamonds. Stones of Contention explores the major developments in the remarkable history of Africa’s diamonds, from the earliest stirrings of international interest in the continent’s mineral wealth in the first millennium A.D. to the present day. In the European colonial period, the discovery of diamonds in South Africa ushered in an era of unprecedented greed during which monopolistic enterprises exploited both the mineral resources and the indigenous workforce. In the aftermath of World War II, the governments of newly independent African states, both democratic and despotic, joined industry giant De Beers and other corporations to oversee and profit from mining activity on the continent. The book also considers the experiences of a wide array of Africans—from informal artisanal miners, company mineworkers, and indigenous authorities to armed rebels, mining executives, and premiers of mineral-rich states—and their relationships to the stones that have the power to bring both wealth and misery. With photos and maps, Stones of Contention illustrates the scope and complexity of the African diamond trade as well as its impact on individuals and societies.

Exodus To Africa

Exodus To Africa
Author: Adam YAMEY
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 1326302426

"This book is a personal account rather than an academic history. It tells the tales of some of ... [the author's] numerous relatives in order to illustrate many aspects of Jewish migration from Europe to the South of Africa. Once they were settled in the country, Jews played a disproportionately large role in its development: everything from opening up trade and commerce to fighting apartheid."--Page 6.

Africans and Britons in the Age of Empires, 1660-1980

Africans and Britons in the Age of Empires, 1660-1980
Author: Myles Osborne
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2015-03-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317514815

Africans and Britons in the Age of Empires, 1660-1980 tells the stories of the intertwined lives of African and British peoples over more than three centuries. In seven chapters and an epilogue, Myles Osborne and Susan Kingsley Kent explore the characters that comprised the British presence in Africa: the slave traders and slaves, missionaries and explorers, imperialists and miners, farmers, settlers, lawyers, chiefs, prophets, intellectuals, politicians, and soldiers of all colors. The authors show that the oft-told narrative of a monolithic imperial power ruling inexorably over passive African victims no longer stands scrutiny; rather, at every turn, Africans and Britons interacted with one another in a complex set of relationships that involved as much cooperation and negotiation as resistance and force, whether during the era of the slave trade, the world wars, or the period of decolonization. The British presence provoked a wide range of responses, reactions, and transformations in various aspects of African life; but at the same time, the experience of empire in Africa – and its ultimate collapse – also compelled the British to view themselves and their empire in new ways. Written by an Africanist and a historian of imperial Britain and illustrated with maps and photographs, Africans and Britons in the Age of Empires, 1660-1980 provides a uniquely rich perspective for understanding both African and British history.

The British Empire [2 volumes]

The British Empire [2 volumes]
Author: Mark Doyle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 579
Release: 2018-06-29
Genre: History
ISBN:

An essential starting point for anyone wanting to learn about life in the largest empire in history, this two-volume work encapsulates the imperial experience from the 16th–21st centuries. From early sixteenth-century explorations to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, the British Empire controlled outposts on every continent, spreading its people and ideas across the globe and profiting mightily in the process. The present state of our world—from its increasing interconnectedness to its vast inequalities and from the successful democracies of North America to the troubled regimes of Africa and the Middle East—can be traced, in large part, to the way in which Great Britain expanded and controlled its empire. The British Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia addresses a broader range of topics than do most other surveys of the empire, covering not only major political and military developments but also topics that have only recently come to serious scholarly attention, such as women's and gender history, art and architecture, indigenous histories and perspectives, and the construction of colonial knowledge and ideologies. By going beyond the "headline" events of the British Empire, this captivating work communicates the British imperial experience in its totality.