Diamonds, Gold, and the Rise of Apartheid: South Africa’s Mineral Revolution Exposed

The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in the late 1860s and gold on the Witwatersrand in the 1880s sparked a profound transformation in South Africa’s economy and society. The Mineral Revolution ushered in industrial capitalism, with large mining companies like De Beers consolidating control over resources and markets. De Beers’ monopoly over diamond production and marketing shaped global prices and South Africa’s economic trajectory.

Deep-level gold mining required massive capital investment and technological innovation, creating a demand for a large, disciplined labor force. To meet this need, mining companies developed the compound system—enclosed living quarters that tightly controlled black migrant workers to prevent theft and manage labor. This system was a key mechanism of racial segregation, confining black workers to harsh conditions while reserving skilled and supervisory roles for white workers.

The mining industry’s racial division of labor was not just economic but became embedded in law and social practice, laying the groundwork for apartheid. Pass laws regulated the movement of black workers, ensuring a steady supply of cheap labor while restricting their rights and freedoms.

The Mineral Revolution thus created the economic and social conditions that apartheid would later formalize and expand. Johannesburg grew rapidly, becoming a racially segregated city with stark contrasts between wealth and poverty, privilege and oppression.

This era reveals how economic imperatives can entrench social inequalities and shape political systems.

In the following section, we will examine how these economic changes were codified into legal segregation and how resistance began to take shape.