How a massive diamond rush transformed a South African hill into a global landmark

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1871, a frantic search for diamonds turned a quiet hill into the world-famous Big Hole. This massive open-pit mine, dug entirely by hand, fueled a colonial boom and birthed a city. Today, it stands as a testament to the extreme human labor and ambition that defined South Africa's industrial history.

The story of Kimberley began with the discovery of diamonds in the late 1860s, but the true catalyst was the 1871 identification of diamond-bearing kimberlite at Colesberg Kopje. Prospectors, including a team led by Fleetwood Rawstorne, descended upon the site in a frenzy. The resulting settlement, initially dubbed New Rush, exploded in size, reaching a population of 50,000 by 1872. The town was later renamed Kimberley in 1873 to honor John Wodehouse, the 1st Earl of Kimberley, who found the original name too vulgar for his tastes.

The mine itself, known as the Big Hole, represents a staggering feat of manual labor. Between 1871 and 1914, thousands of miners used picks and shovels to excavate the site. At its peak, the operation employed some 30,000 workers. As the pit deepened, the challenges of groundwater seepage and collapsing walls forced a transition from open-pit extraction to complex underground mining, with shafts eventually reaching 3,599 feet below the surface. By the time the mine closed in 1914 due to rising costs and labor issues, it had yielded approximately 14.5 million carats of diamonds.

While often cited as the world's largest hand-excavated hole, this claim is contested, with the Jagersfontein Mine sometimes credited with that title. Today, the Big Hole is a shadow of its former self, measuring about 705 feet deep, with the bottom obscured by roughly 135 feet of groundwater. The site is now preserved as part of the Kimberley Mine Museum, which opened in 1971 to showcase the relics and structures of an era that fundamentally reshaped the region's economy and political landscape under the influence of figures like Cecil Rhodes.

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