KIMBERLEY, town, 29° S., 24° 4o' E.; altitude 4,012 ft.; centre of the Griqualand West diamond industry, and 647 m. by rail from Cape Town. Population, including suburbs, in 1931 included 18,618 Europeans. In 1921 there were 18,288 Euro peans, 13,048 natives, 92o Asiatics and 7,446 mixed and other races, giving a total of 39,702. The town is built on bare veld midway between the Modder and Vaal rivers. Its plan is un usually irregular for South Africa, owing to the town having grown out of several mining camps. Among the principal buildings are the High Court of Griqualand, a clock tower, the post office and the town hall, grouped about the market square. The public library has a good collection of books, and the museum has a con siderable number of objects relating to the Bushmen and their culture. In the district of Newton is a memorial to those killed in the siege of 1899-190o. Most of the white workmen employed in the mines live in the suburb of Kenilworth, which was laid out by the De Beers company as a model village. Here Siege Avenue, has been planted with 16 rows of trees, shrubs and vines.
The chief attraction of the town is the diamond mines. (See DIAMOND.) The Kimberley is within a few minutes' walk of the market square. The De Beers mine is one mile east of the Kim berley mine. The other principal mines, Bultontein, Du Toits Pan and Wesselton, are still farther distant from the town. Barbed wire fencing surrounds the mines, which cover about 180 acres.
Kimberley was founded in 1870 by diggers who discovered diamonds on the farms of Du Toits Pan and Bultontein. In 1871 richer diamonds were found on the neighbouring farm of Voor uitzight at places named De Beers and Colesberg Kopje. There were at first three distinct mining camps, one at Du Toits Pan, another at De Beers (called De Beers Rush or Old De Beers) and the third at the Colesberg Kopje (called De Beers New Rush or New Rush simply). The Colesberg Kopje mine was in July 1873
renamed Kimberley in honour of the then secretary of state for the colonies, the 1st earl of Kimberley, by whose direction the mines were—in 1871—taken under the protection of Great Britain. Kimberley was also chosen as the name of the town into which the mining camps developed. In 1880 the town was in corporated in Cape Colony. (See GRIQUALAND.) Among those early attracted to Kimberley were Cecil Rhodes and "Barney" Bar nato, who in time came to represent two groups of financiers con trolling the mines. The amalgamation of their interests in 1889 —when the De Beers group purchased the Kimberley mine for £5,338,650—put the whole diamond production of the Kimberley fields in the hands of one company, the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., so named after the former owners of the farm on which are situated the chief mines. Kimberley in consequence became largely dependent on the good-will of the De Beers cor poration, the town having practically no further industries other than diamond mining. The importance of the industry led to the building of a railway from Cape Town, opened in 1885. On the outbreak of war between the British and the Boers in 1899 Kim berley was invested by a Boer force. The siege began on Oct. 12, and lasted until Feb. 15, 1900, when the town was relieved by General Sir John French. In 1906 the town was put in direct rail way communication with Johannesburg, and in 1908 the comple tion of the line from Bloemfontein gave Natal direct access to Kimberley, which thus became an important railway centre.