Diamonds Throughout History
by Adala Fendham
http://www.autodiamonds.com
The saying goes that diamonds are forever--and truly,
they've existed practically forever! The youngest
diamonds are about a billion years old. Indeed, diamonds
form over very long periods of time and in the most
extreme conditions. They are the result of a reaction
that occurs deep down in the earth, at high pressure and
where the temperature is two thousand degrees Fahrenheit.
So how do these precious gems make their way into our
hands? They travel ninety miles up from the earth's depths
by riding on a current of volcanic magma. (The rarity of
diamonds has something to do with the fact that volcanoes
so deep down are few and far between.) Like coal, diamonds
are a product of the element carbon. It is because of the
extreme temperatures and pressures that carbon is turned
into diamonds.
Diamond gathering by humans started early in our history
and hundreds of years before Christ diamonds were being
used as decoration in India. Besides being beautiful,
diamonds are also amazingly hard - the name comes from the
Greek meaning impossible to tame - and some cultures have
made more use of this second characteristic. The Ancient
Chinese, for example, used diamonds to engrave and drill
jade, a gem they found far more attractive than diamond.
But diamonds have not always enjoyed the immense
popularity they do now. Trade restrictions between
Europe and India hundreds of years ago gave diamonds
a bad reputation, especially as the stones were often
used in non-Christian amulets. This didn't play well
in the heavily Christian Europe of the time.
But trade into Europe picked up from around 1300 AD
onwards, and diamonds became popular. Whereas Indian
diamond enthusiasts preferred to leave diamonds in their
raw state, the Europeans soon began cutting diamonds into
different shapes and polishing them to a brilliant finish.
The point of diamond cutting, which is really an art
form, is to show off the diamond's "fire." Common cuts
include the point, rose, table, and Mazarin. One of the
most beautiful cuts comes to us from the mind of a
German mathematician, Marcel Tolkowsky. This diamond-
lover used math to figure out exactly which cuts would
allow a diamond to shine most brilliantly.
The association of diamonds with luxury is due to the
rarity of the raw diamond - they have always been hard to
come by. However the reputation as an elite jewel was
helped by the French king Louis the ninth who decided that
only Kings were fit to own diamonds, and passed a law to
stop the rest of his people owning the gem!
Throughout history, diamonds have characteristically been
discovered in river beds, through a process of careful
searching. It was not until 1870 that people discovered
you could mine for diamonds. When a gem was found in
South Africa far from any river, that country immediately
became a hot spot for diamond mining.
Diamonds are measured in carats, which are a weight unit.
One ounce equals one hundred and forty-seven carats, and
50 "points"--an even smaller measurement--equals half a
carat. Even tiny diamonds are valuable, which is why such
small measurements exist and are so commonly used.
Nowadays, scientists have figured out how to make diamonds
artificially, but it's still difficult to produce these
gems. Though these man-made versions are somewhat cheaper
than the real deal, they do not have the cachet of the
billion-year-old diamonds mined from the depths of the
earth.
Submit An Article
|