The global perception of diamonds presents a fascinating duality. Commercially, particularly in the United States, diamonds are equated with love and a lifelong commitment. However, with recent news surrounding blood diamonds and issues surrounding the illegal gem trade, diamonds are also being blamed for financing deadly conflicts. For this reason, diamonds provide an interesting vehicle for tracing world events of the 20th century. When did diamonds become valuable and how have they maintained this status for so long? What role have diamonds played in some of the major conflicts of the past? Diamonds became a symbol of status and wealth around the world and consequently fueled the greed that caused many conflicts. However, this image of the diamond has always been an elaborate facade constructed and maintained by the industry itself. The Discovery After the discovery of diamonds in Africa in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the ramifications of the following decades were extensive and unpredictable. Sierra Leone will be the focus of this paper's investigation into the origins of the diamond trade. Diamonds were discovered in Sierra Leone by British geologists in late 1929 and the early 1930s and it was quickly determined that some of the world's most valuable diamonds were found in the country's jungles (Campbell, xiv; Thomas, 264). Cecil Rhodes, who had purchased as many mining sites as possible since the late 1880s, took control of the majority of Sierra Leone's mines for his DeBeers company (Campbell, 106). DeBeers will be the focus of this article – mainly because DeBeers has also been at the center of the global diamond trade for the better part of a century. Rhodes's company middle of paper...... 2014.Ghilani, Jessica L. DeBeers' 'Fighting Diamonds': Recruiting American Consumers in World War II Advertising. Journal of Communication Inquiry 36.3 (2012): 222-245. Meredith, Martin. Diamonds, gold and war: the British, the Boers and the creation of South Africa. 1st ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2007. Web.Roberts, Janine. “Without Congo diamonds, World War II could not have been won. » New African 444 (2005): 24-27. Internet. April 25, 2014.Sullivan, J. Courtney. “How Americans Learned to Love Diamonds.” The New York Times May 3, 2013. the web. April 25, 2014.Thomas, Martin. Violence and Colonial Order: Police, Workers, and Protest in European Colonial Empires, 1918-1940. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Critical Perspectives on Empire Web.