How diamonds made Kolmanskop rich before turning it into a ghost town

In 1908, a railway worker clearing sand beside a track in what is now Namibia noticed something unusual: stones that caught the sunlight. His German supervisor, August Stauch, recognised the discovery as diamonds, setting off a rush that would transform one of southern Africa’s harshest landscapes. Within months, prospectors and mining companies were moving into the remote desert, while the colonial authorities imposed tight controls over the newly valuable territory. Kolmanskop soon emerged as the centre of the diamond boom, growing into an improbable European-style settlement complete with electricity, a hospital, bakery, butcher, post office and even an ice-making plant.According to National Geographic, for a few decades, extraordinary mineral wealth sustained a surprisingly comfortable town in the desert. Then richer deposits were discovered farther south. The residents left, the mines declined and, by 1956, Kolmanskop was empty. Today, sand is steadily swallowing its abandoned buildings, leaving behind a striking reminder of Namibia’s diamond rush and colonial past.How diamonds found in Namibia’s desert sparked the rapid growth of KolmanskopA railway worker named Zacherias Lew...