The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial and coastal mining. It operates in 35 countries with mining taking place in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. It also has an artisanal mining business, Gemfair, which operates in Sierra Leone.
Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its diamond mining past and the siege during the Second Anglo-Boer war. British businessmen Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes in Kimberley, and Rhodes established the De Beers diamond company in the early days of the mining town.
Oppenheimer is a toponymic surname, derived from the German town Oppenheim, common among Germans and Ashkenazi Jews.
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.
Alfred Beit was an Anglo-German gold and diamond magnate in South Africa, and a major donor and profiteer of infrastructure development on the African continent. He also donated much money to university education and research in several countries, and was the "silent partner" who structured the capital flight from post-Boer War South Africa to Rhodesia. Beit's assets were structured around the so-called Corner House Group, which through its holdings in various companies controlled 37 per cent of the gold produced at the Witwatersrand's goldfields in Johannesburg in 1913.
Barney Barnato was a British Randlord and diamond magnate who was one of the entrepreneurs who gained control of diamond mining, and later, gold mining in South Africa from the 1870s up to World War I. He was known as a rival of Cecil Rhodes.
Nicholas F. Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire businessman. He was formerly the chairman of De Beers diamond mining company and of its subsidiary, the Diamond Trading Company, and former deputy chairman of Anglo American. He is the third richest man in Africa.
Anglo American plc is a British multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, polyhalite and steelmaking coal. The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
South African Jews, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion, form the twelfth largest Jewish community in the world, and the largest on the African continent. As of 2020, the Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town estimates 52,300 Jews in the country. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies estimates that the figure is closer to 75,000.
Parktown is a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the first suburb north of the inner city. It is affectionately known as one of the Parks, others including Parkview, Parkwood, Westcliff, Parktown North, Parkhurst and Forest Town. Parktown is one of Johannesburg's largest suburbs, neighbouring Hillbrow, Braamfontein and Milpark to the South; Berea and Houghton to the East; Killarney and Forest Town to the North, and Westcliff, Melville and Richmond to the West. Originally established by the Randlords in the 1890s, Parktown is now home to many businesses, hospitals, schools, churches and restaurants, whilst still maintaining quiet residential areas. It is also home to three of the five campuses of the University of the Witwatersrand including the education campus, medical school and Wits Business School. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
Dan Jacobson was a South African novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
Julian Ogilvie Thompson was a South African businessman who was chairman of De Beers and the Anglo American mining company.
Gustav Imroth was a minor Randlord who played a role in the development of the South African diamond-mining industry and sports.
The Brenthurst Library is a private repository of Africana in Parktown, Johannesburg built by Harry Oppenheimer in 1984 as he started to disengage from the family's mining interests. It houses a collection of some 20,000 volumes, including rare manuscripts and documents. Among these were the only complete record of the proceedings of the treason trial of Nelson Mandela, until the papers were handed over to the Mandela estate in November 2008.
Brenthurst Gardens is a 45-acre (180,000 m2) private garden in Johannesburg, South Africa attached to Brenthurst Estate, the residence of the Oppenheimer family, led by Nicky Oppenheimer.
Jack Penn, M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C.S.(E.), Mil. Dec. M.B.E., S.M., was a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, sculptor and author, who was also for a time a member of the President's Council in South Africa.
Jonathan M. E. Oppenheimer is a South African billionaire businessman and conservationist, and the executive chairman of Oppenheimer Generations, a former executive of De Beers and a former vice-president of his family's firm, Anglo American plc.
Francis Oats was a Cornish miner who became chairman of De Beers diamond company. He made extensive investments in the Cornish tin mining industry, which collapsed after he had died. He is known for Porthledden, a mansion he built at the tip of Cornwall.
The Great Park Synagogue is an Orthodox synagogue situated in Houghton, Johannesburg. The present building was consecrated in 2000, after the congregation vacated their long-time home, the Great Synagogue on Wolmarans Street, Hillbrow in 1994, after eighty years. The Wolmarans Street synagogue came to be known as the city's mother synagogue and "the crown jewel of Orthodox Judaism in South Africa." All large-scale Jewish events in Johannesburg were held in the building, and throughout its existence it was the seat of the country's chief rabbi. Northward migration by congregation members led to the synagogue closing its doors in 1994. The relocated synagogue was built on the model of the Great Synagogue, whose own architecture in turn was inspired by the Hagia Sophia. Great Park Synagogue was also the original name of the synagogue on Wolmarans Street before it became the Great Synagogue.
Henry Charles Hull was the first South African Minister of Finance when the Union of South Africa was formed in March 1910. He served in the first Louis Botha cabinet. He assisted in drafting of South Africa's first constitution. He was a lawyer, politician, and mining financier. He assisted in the formation of Anglo American plc.
