# Kimberley Diamond Rush and Tswana Labour Migration (1871)

URL: https://allhistories.com/botswana/timeline/1871-kimberley-diamond-rush-and-tswana-labour-migration
Location: Kimberley, South Africa
Themes: main-event

The Kimberley article records that in 1871 Esau Damoense found diamonds on Colesberg Kopje, and a rush followed in which 900 claims were cut within a month. Griqualand West was proclaimed on 27 October 1871, and the New Rush was renamed Kimberley in 1873. Diamonds had first been found on the Orange River in 1866. The History of Botswana article says that Batswana men increasingly migrated to work in South African mines from the 1860s. The Kimberley article describes a large African migration from across the continent and the search of De Beers for cheap labour, but it does not mention Tswana workers specifically. The link rests on the Botswana article. Griqualand West was annexed to the Cape Colony in 1877, and the Big Hole was mined until 1914, with about 50,000 miners digging it by pick and shovel. Labour migration to Kimberley and, later, the Witwatersrand became a long-term feature of the Tswana economy and tied the territory to the South African mining economy. At this point in the timeline (1871), no ruler of the whole territory existed (1800 – 1884); it was divided among independent Tswana chiefdoms, with the Ndebele and Makololo kingdoms and the Boers of the Transvaal pressing on its borders.

## Why it matters
Kimberley began the pattern of Tswana men working in South African mines, a pattern that defined the economy of the Protectorate.

Ruler at the Time: [Tswana chiefdoms, Ndebele and Makololo (no territory-wide ruler)](https://allhistories.com/botswana/rulers/tswana-chiefdoms-ndebele-and-makololo-no-1800)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Kimberley, Northern Cape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley,_Northern_Cape)
- [Wikipedia — History of Botswana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Botswana)
- [Wikipedia — Griqua people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griqua_people)