While today a diamond may be the symbol of durability, wealth, quality and status, in history the diamond has been associated with lightning, magic, protection, healing, poisoning and invulnerability. The word ‘Diamond’ comes from the Greek word ‘adamo’ meaning ‘I tame’ or ‘I subdue’.

Diamonds were first mined in India, where the Sanskrit word for the gem is vajra, meaning ‘thunderbolt’ or indrayudha, meaning ‘Indra’s weapon.” Indra is the warrior god in Vedic scripture which is the foundation of Hinduism. In naming the diamond this way, the Indians were comparing the flash and fire of a diamond stone to the thunderbolt symbol of their god. The earliest descriptions of vajra date back to 4 centuries B.C. and its value then was already apparent.

Diamonds first began making their appearance in Europe in the 13th century and were used as accent points with gold, pearls and other stones. As mining techniques improved, by the 16th century, the diamonds were becoming bigger and diamond faceting took off. It was then that diamonds began to dominate smaller jewels rather than accenting them. In Rome, diamonds were rarely polished and left with their rough appearance after being cut. Diamonds in Europe, on the other hand were almost always polished to remove surface imperfections.

Venice is believed to be where the oldest diamond cutting industry started, probably sometime after 1330. The trade arrived in Paris by the late 14th century as documents have been found for the diamond cutting techniques in a letter from 1465.

Diamond Trade

Diamond trade routes naturally would be established based on those locations where diamonds were found and other local nearby cities of significant size and capacity for mining the precious stones properly. One such city is still today, a major hub in the diamond trade industry – Antwerp. Early on, Europeans were able to get their hands on Indian diamonds by using a sea route discovered by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama. This allowed them to circumnavigate the Arabic hindrance to the diamond trade originating in India. The city of Goa on the Malabar Coast of India quickly grew as a Portuguese trading center.

18th, 19th and 20th Centuries

Diamonds began to slowly increase in abundance and their price came down. Once a supply of diamonds was found in Africa, the stones began to flood the market in the 19th century, making them affordable to just about anyone with a little disposable wealth. Gold was no longer the single acceptable metal for setting real diamond rings, and platinum became much more popular due to its lighter weight and greater strength for holding a stone.

In the 20th century, in order to restore value to the diamond and return it to what was seen as its rightful place as a rare and expensive stone, cartels were established to control the flow of the gems from South Africa and other places that were responsible for flooding the market. The DeBeer’s corporation was born, and due to their marketing campaigns and initiatives, the diamond soon gained its place as a romantic stone between lovers.