Second Boer War Concentration Camps: Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Northern Cape, Pietermaritzburg, Emily Hobhouse, Potchefstroom, East London

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 51. Chapters: Aliwal North, Barberton, Mpumalanga, Belfast, Mpumalanga, Bethulie, Bloemfontein, Brandfort, East London, Eastern Cape, Emily Hobhouse, Heidelberg, Gauteng, Heilbron, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, Irene, Gauteng, Kimberley, Northern Cape, Klerksdorp, Kroonstad, Krugersdorp, Middelburg, Mpumalanga, Modimolle, Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown, Potchefstroom, Springfontein, Standerton, Vereeniging, Volksrust, Vredefort, Vryburg, Winburg. Excerpt: Kimberley is the capital of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Boer War. Notable personalities such as Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes here, and the roots of the De Beers company can also be traced to the early days of the mining town. In 1866, Erasmus Jacobs found a small brilliant pebble on the banks of the Orange River, on the farm De Kalk leased from local Griquas, near Hopetown, which was his father's farm. He showed the pebble to his father who sold it. The pebble was purchased from Jacobs by Schalk van Niekerk, who later sold it. It proved to be a 21.25 carat (4.25 g) diamond, and became known as the Eureka. Three years later Schalk van Niekerk sold another diamond also found in the De Kalk ( ) vicinity, the Star of South Africa for 11,200. The second diamond was promptly resold in the London market for 25,000. Fleetwood Rawstone's "Red Cap Party" of prospectors on Colesberg KopjeIn 1869, an even larger 83.50 carat (16.7 g) diamond was found on the slopes of Colesberg Kopje on the farm Vooruitzigt belonging to the De Beers brothers. Henry Richard Giddy recounted how Esau Damoense (or Damon), the cook for prospector Fleetwood Rawstone's "Red Cap Party," made the discovery on Colesberg Kopje after he was sent there to dig as punishment. Rawstorne took the news to the nearby diggings of the De Beer brothers - his arrival there sparking off the famous "New Rush" which, as historian Brian Roberts puts it, was practically a stampede. Within a month 800 claims were cut into the hillock which were worked frenetically by two to three thousand men. As the land was lowered so the hillock became a mine - in time, the world renowned Kimberley Mine. The Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange Free State and the Griqua leader Nikolaas Waterboer all laid cla