Devils Below

⚡Yesterday, Ghana celebrated its Independence Day. On 6 March 1957, what was known as the Gold Coast became Ghana, though the metal still occupies an important place in its economy and self-identity. ⏱ Europeans had come to Ghana for gold since 1471, when Portuguese ships opened direct trade on the Ghanaian coast, which was named "Gold Coast” due to the abundance of gold. During the late British rule one of the Empire's major gold sources was the Obuasi mine in Ghana's Ashanti region: industrial production began there in 1897. It is still operational, technically run by the same legal entity — AngloGold Ashanti. 🏆After independence, Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah tried to redirect that wealth into state-building: in January 1961 the government bought 5 gold mines and folded them into the State Gold Mining Corporation, until the liberalization of the late 20th century. 🇬🇭But there is more to Ghana's gold, than just economic policies. Raised on 6 March 1957, Ghana's very flag designed by Theodosia Okoh symbolizes the country's gold wealth (yellow) and its lands and nature (green). Today Ghana still has to genuinely deliver on the promises of the 69-year old flag: the gold stripe is still being dug out fast, while the green stripe is being destroyed by illegal mining. However, now, 69 years later, Ghana is also no longer just about gold — the main actor today is, and should be, its people! #History ✈️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

The World Was Stunned: How Gold Let Ancient Africans Build a Nation from Scratch [ History ] 🌍 Today, all nations are built in the European image: laws, parliaments, courts, armies, and police — mainly in the French or English style (some have the Portuguese version, but we pity them). It might seem that the very concept of a state is inherently European. And, in today’s Africa, that’s largely true. ⏱ But a thousand years ago, near Limpopo, there existed a unique and original state whose complete isolation from Europe and Asia suggests a true birth of a nation from scratch—without outside influence or financial support from parents. The kingdom was called Mapungubwe. It emerged in the 11th century from a local tribe that, within just a few decades, subjugated its neighbors, established a complex hierarchy, and built a stone capital for thousands of people. At the heart of its rise was gold—just as usually, it was exported. Selling gold through eastern neighbors to Asia created inequality and gave rise to a king and an elite. The same gold wealth allowed rulers to use a "divide and conquer"strategy to control neighboring tribes. ⛔️ As legendary ancient states usually do, Mapungubwe mysteriously vanished after about 200 years. All that remains is a hill where the capital once stood—and this golden rhino, discovered by scientists in 1932. #History ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

Did You Know What to Look for When Visiting Space? [ History ] 🛰 Many believe that the Great Wall of China is visible from space, but in reality, that’s a myth—the wall is way too small. What you can see from orbit, however, are the craters of open-pit mines and the cities that have sprung up around them in southern DRC, in Africa’s Copperbelt. Three major cities have grown along the mines and pits of this region: Kolwezi, Lubumbashi (DRC), and Ndola (Zambia). The straight-line distance from Kolwezi to Lubumbashi is about 250 km, and another 180 km to Ndola. 🌟 The fact that all of this is clearly visible from space clashes somewhat with another fact: the region’s record as a global open-pit mines construction hub can be traced back to a single Belgian company—one that still exists today. That company was Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), founded in 1906 to mine copper in Congo. Over the decades, it extracted resources worth $5.5 billion (at mid-20th-century exchange rates), digging pits near Kolwezi, Likasi (Shinkolobwe mine), Kipushi and Lubumbashi (Ruashi, Etoile mines). There were some positives—like building railways, later abandoned—but the company is best remembered in popular memory for financially backing the secessionist quasi-state of Katanga, which rebelled against Patrice Lumumba’s government in 1960. Interestingly, the original plan—to support the secessionists and thus avoid nationalization by Lumumba’s leftist government—failed on three levels. First, Katanga lost the war and was dissolved in 1963. Then, its former leader, Moise Tshombe, who became prime minister of the entire Congo, nationalized some company’s shares in 1964. 🔫Finally, on December 31, 1966, General Mobutu, who had seized power, nationalized UMHK entirely. Since then, UMHK in Congo has become the public company Gécamines, which still manages the state’s shares in mineral assets. Meanwhile, the company’s European office evolved into Umicore, which also deals in minerals—though, of course, it can no longer turn part of another country into a lunar landscape. #History ➡️ Stay informed - @devilsbelow

💎The Mother of All Diamonds [ History ] From November 17 to 21 serious guys gathered in Dubai atthe ministerial meeting of the Kimberley Process, a platform meant to ensure that diamonds do not finance violence or shady schemes. Although the process has long outlived its usefulness, it is interesting to look back at where this entire diamond story began. ⚠️Meet the Big Hole of Kimberley! It is a man-made crater so enormous that it still looks unreal at first sight. Around 50,000 people dug it by hand, and in just four decades extracted about 14.5 million carats of diamonds - roughly 3 tons. The pit reached a depth of about 240 meters and a width of around 463 meters. ➡️Diamonds were discovered here in 1871 on the Vooruitzicht farm, which belonged to the De Beer brothers. News spread quickly, and almost overnight a tent settlement called New Rush appeared - the settlement that later became the city of Kimberley. ➡️ But Kimberley was more than just a mine. This was the birthplace of De Beers, the company that would later dominate the entire global diamond market. ➡️ Interestingly, the company that still carries the name of those same farmer brothers was not founded by them. De Beers was created by Cecil Rhodes and Barney Barnato, who in 1888 established De Beers Consolidated Mines. By the 1980s the company effectively controlled around 90% of the global diamond supply. True, we can make bigger holes today. However, The Big Hole is a monument to the countless lives and harsh labor, which built a whole city nearby and gave rise to a company that set the rules of the diamond market for more than a century. #History Devils Below