Editing Cecil Rhodes (section)

== Diamonds and the establishment of De Beers ==
[[File:De Beers Consolidated Mines 1902.jpg|thumb|Preference Share of the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., issued 1. March 1902]]
[[File:Cecil Rhodes by Violet manners.jpg|thumb|Sketch of Rhodes by [[Violet Manners, Duchess of Rutland|Violet Manners]] ]]

During his years at Oxford, Rhodes continued to prosper in [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]]. Before his departure for Oxford, he and C.D. Rudd had moved from the [[Big Hole|Kimberley Mine]] to invest in the more costly claims of what was known as old De Beers (''Vooruitzicht''). It was named after Johannes Nicolaas de Beer and his brother, Diederik Arnoldus, who occupied the farm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capetowndiamondmuseum.org/about-diamonds/famous-people/|title=Famous People in the Diamond Industry|publisher=Cape Town Diamond Museum|access-date=25 September 2018}}</ref>

After purchasing the land in 1839 from David Danser, a [[Griqua people|Koranna]] chief in the area, David Stephanus Fourie, forebear of Claudine Fourie-Grosvenor, had allowed the de Beers and various other Afrikaner families to cultivate the land. The region extended from the [[Modder River]] via the Vet River up to the [[Vaal River]].{{sfn|Rosenthal|1965|p=}}{{page needed|date=February 2016}}

In 1874 and 1875, the diamond fields were in the grip of depression, but Rhodes and Rudd were among those who stayed to consolidate their interests. They believed that diamonds would be numerous in the hard [[Kimberlite|blue ground]] that had been exposed after the softer, yellow layer near the surface had been worked out. During this time, the technical problem of clearing out the water that was flooding the mines became serious. Rhodes and Rudd obtained the contract for pumping water out of the three main mines. After Rhodes returned from his first term at Oxford, he lived with Robert Dundas Graham, who later became a mining partner with Rudd and Rhodes.{{sfn|Rotberg|1988|pp=76–}}

On 13 March 1888, Rhodes and Rudd launched [[De Beers Consolidated Mines]] after the amalgamation of a number of individual claims. With £200,000 of capital, the company, of which Rhodes was secretary, owned the largest interest in the mine (£200,000 in 1880 = £22.5m in 2020 = $28.5m USD).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/ |title=Purchasing Power of Pound |publisher=Measuring Worth |date=15 February 1971 |access-date=11 June 2020}}</ref> Rhodes was named the chairman of [[De Beers]] at the company's founding in 1888. De Beers was established with funding from [[Rothschild & Co|N.M. Rothschild & Sons]] in 1887.{{efn| With the provision of funding for the creation of De Beers in 1887, Rothschild also turned to investment in the mining of precious stones, in Africa and India. Today it markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds, and at one time marketed 90%.{{sfn|Martin|2009|p=162}} }}