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A Brief History of the Diamond
by Adala Fendham
http://www.autodiamonds.com
The diamonds we like to give or receive have a very long
history - even the youngest of them is probably over one
billion years old! This is because it is not easy to make a
diamond -they are formed deep within the earth at
temperatures of over two thousand degrees Fahrenheit and
at an unimaginably high pressure.
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.
Diamonds have long been considered quite precious. Even
hundreds of years before Christ was born, these beautiful
stones were prized as decorations in India. Other cultures
have used diamonds in more practical ways. Since they are
one of the hardest substances in existence--their name
is derived from a Greek phrase that means "impossible to
tame"--they have been used by the Ancient Chinese as a
tool for engraving jade. In fact, the Ancient Chinese
liked jade more 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 when trade increased in the 14th century, the
popularity of diamonds began to rise. Rather than leaving
the diamonds "raw," as Indians did, the Europeans
preferred to cut their stones. They made them over into
various shapes, and the cuts gave off an increased
sparkle.
Diamond cutting as an art form is meant to enhance the
natural beauty of the gem by allowing it to shine at its
most brilliant. Diamond experts call the glint of a finely
cut diamond its "fire." There are a number of types of
cuts, including point, rose, table, and Mazarin. And
diamond cutting is not just an art, it is also a science.
One of the world's most beautiful cutting patterns was the
invention of a German mathematician named Marcel Tolkowsky.
He used numerical calculations to figure out which shape
would show off a diamond in the best possible way.
Diamonds are rare, which has a lot to do with how highly
prized they are. This reputation also owes, however, to
the words of Louis the ninth. This French king decreed
that diamonds were fit only for kings. In fact, he
implemented a law that prohibited commoners from owning
diamonds!
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.
The unit used to measure diamonds is the carats, which
denotes weight. One ounce is equal to one hundred and
forty-seven carats. But diamonds are precious when they
are as small as a single carat, and some are measured in
units below a carat, called a "point." Fifty points is
the equivalent of a half-carat.
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.
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