How the diamond engagement ring was invented – and sold around the world | Features

For decades, men in many countries were expected to spend two or even three months’ salary on a diamond engagement ring. This notion – and the iconic status of this gem – did not come about by accident.

The story goes back to 1870, when an Oxford University dropout named Cecil Rhodes set off to try his luck in the Cape Colony – modern-day South Africa, then a key British domain.

Seeing the burgeoning diamond mining sector there, he began renting water pumps to diamond prospectors to…