For more than four centuries, the diamond industry has been established in Amsterdam. The city has called itself the “City of Diamonds” since its heyday in the mid-18th century.

The influx of diamond workers over the centuries was the result of war and oppression elsewhere. From 1576 onwards, many Protestants and Jews fled the Spanish (Catholic) oppression in the Southern Netherlands, making for the free cities in the north. After the fall of Antwerp in 1585, many diamond workers came from that city to Amsterdam. At the beginning of the 17th century, Jews from Portugal and Germany followed. In the second half of the 17th century Amsterdam became the diamond capital of the world. From that time, the city long remained an important centre for polishing and trading. The First World War, the Depression of the thirties and above all the deportation of the Jewish population in the Second World War were, however, fatal to the diamond industry in Amsterdam. Since around 1960, Amsterdam has mostly been a centre of diamond trading, focusing particularly on sales to consumers.

Timeline

1500  The Portuguese open the shipping route to India around the southern tip of Africa. They become the greatest importers of rough diamonds. Diamond processing and trading take place chiefly in Lisbon.

1576  The Spanish Fury — a mutiny of Spanish troops who plundered Antwerp — and the fall of Antwerp in 1585 cause an enormous exodus of the population. Some settle in the Northern provinces of the Netherlands, and especially in Amsterdam. Among them are diamond workers.

1580  Portugal is conquered by Spain. There commences a migration of Jews to the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands, where freedom of establishment and worship are guaranteed. They are not permitted to join a guild, however, and are only admitted to the “free” professions. One of these is the diamond industry. Many settle in Amsterdam.

1586  Written evidence. On 15 November 1586 Willem Vermaet is recorded in Amsterdam’s marriage register with diamond worker as his profession. Although the diamond trade existed before, this is the first document showing that Amsterdam has been known as a diamond city for at least four centuries.

1636 and following years  Until around 1730 diamonds came chiefly from India. They were initially routed via Lisbon to Antwerp — the older and more important diamond trade centre — and Amsterdam. From 1636 the Dutch East India Company takes over imports, and Amsterdam grows in importance as a diamond city. After 1668 the import is handed over to the English and London becomes the main entry point for rough diamond. The processing remains largely in Antwerp and Amsterdam.

1727  Diamonds found in Brazil. Until 1727 diamonds came principally from India. In that year, however, diamonds were also found in Brazil, and in 1735 the Dutch succeeded in obtaining the sales monopoly for Brazilian diamonds. That meant practically the entire world production, because the mines in India were then hardly producing anything any longer, and the diamond finds elsewhere — such as in Borneo — were not particularly large either. With these imports, Amsterdam — at the expense of Antwerp — became the most important polishing and trading city of that period.

1750  With so much prosperity, the diamond trade in Amsterdam was able to increase fourfold, and around 1750 six hundred families made a good living from it.

1791  The Amsterdam banking firm Hope & Co. becomes the sales agent for Brazilian diamonds for the Portuguese leaseholder Joachim Pedro Quintella. In 1794, the firm is established in London. It was the banker Henri Philip Hope who in 1830 bought the famed blue diamond which was named after him: The Hope.

1840  The first steam-driven polishing factory is established by the diamond company Hont in the Rapenburgerstraat. Establishment of the diamond firm Coster.

1844  New, rich, diamond mines are opened in the Brazilian province of Bahia. Large-scale imports get underway, resulting in a strong revival of the diamond industry in Amsterdam.

1852  In the workplace of the English court jeweller Garrard in London, on Friday 17 July, the Dutchmen L.B. Voorzanger — a polisher by profession — and the girdler J.A. Fedder, both of the firm Coster, commence the delicate work of re-faceting the 186-carat Koh-i-Noor, in order to lend a more beautiful brilliance to this historic diamond.

1867  The first large diamond found in South Africa was called Eureka — Greek for “found” — in 1866. Only two years later, when a second, even larger stone — the Star of South Africa — was found, the great diamond rush broke out. The Eureka weighed 21.25 carats and was presented to the public at the World Exhibition of 1867-1868 in Paris. Afterwards it was cut into a brilliant of 10.73 carats by Martin Coster. In 1966, a hundred years after its discovery, Harry Oppenheimer, director of De Beers, bought the Eureka from its private owner; in 1983 he offered it to the people of South Africa. It was initially exhibited in the parliament building, but can now be seen in the Mine Museum in Kimberley.

1903  Excelsior. In 1893, in the Jagersfontein mine in the South African Orange Free State, a stone weighing 995.20 carats had been dug up; it has been given the name Excelsior. It proved to be the largest rough diamond in the world at that time. At the firm of Asscher, Henri Koe faceted from it in 1903 twenty-one stones of various sizes, of which the 16 biggest have been numbered.

1908  In 1905, in the South African province of the Transvaal, a rough diamond was found — the largest ever discovered in the world to the present day. The Cullinan, named after the director of the mine, weighed 3,106 carats. The firm Asscher was commissioned in 1908 to cleave and facet the Cullinan. That resulted in 96 small and 9 large stones, of which the Cullinan I or Great Star of Africa — at 530.20 carats, the second-largest cut diamond in the world — adorns the top of the English royal sceptre.

1940 – 1945  Second World War. During the German occupation, the great majority of the Jewish population are deported to the extermination camps. Among them are 2,800 Amsterdam diamond workers. Only 300 of them survive the camps and return to the Netherlands.

1945 and following years  In 1947-1948 a part of the diamonds taken during the war is traced and brought back to the Netherlands. With this, a start can be made on the restoration of the Amsterdam diamond industry.

1955  The firm Van Moppes is the first diamond merchant to begin the sale of diamonds to tourists. The tourists are first given a guided tour of the polishing factory and then offered the chance to buy. Other diamond merchants follow this example in the years thereafter. Partly due to the city’s great appeal for tourists, these companies draw nearly a million visitors annually.

1959  On the occasion of the 50th birthday of Queen Juliana, the Dutch population collect money, part of which is used for a wristwatch set with 300 diamonds. The piece is designed and made by the jeweller Steltman of The Hague; the baguette diamonds are polished by Ben Meier of Coster Diamonds.