Ever since the diamond industry was created in India during the fourth century B.C., the precious gemstones have been endlessly sought after and fought over. Mined in the country’s rivers and streams, diamonds were flaunted by India’s upper class and nobility, and soon enough, following the trend of other “exotic” luxury items of the time, they made their way across Eurasia and into the hands of the European elite, who made the gem fashionable by the fifteenth century A.D.

For centuries India was the diamond capital of the world, and known as the only source of the gem. This monopoly meant the quick depletion of the material in the country, and by the early eighteenth century, it became clear that a new source of diamonds must arise. That new source was Brazil. Dominating the industry for over a century, diamonds were plentiful in the vast river systems of the country. The surplus of this precious gem only expanded the interest consumers had in buying them. And so the hearth of diamonds moved to South Africa with their discovery in Kimberley in the mid-nineteenth century. There, diamonds were mined by the exploited, imperialized, and enslaved.

In the 1870s, the annual production of rough diamonds was well under a million carats, and just over  a century later, the figure surpassed 100 million carats per year.

This is a quick summary of the diamond industry, and how those little gemstones became a symbol of wealth, status, and engagement. The mines in Africa were made lucrative under companies that are mammoth names in the industry even today—De Beers, Alrosa, Rio Tinto—and sold in diamond hubs around the world—New York City, Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Dubai, Hong Kong, Mumbai.