Cecil Rhodes, having been made very rich…

Cecil Rhodes, having been made very rich by Kimberley’s diamond fields, forms De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888.

The name 'De Beers' is derived from the two Dutch settlers, brothers Diederik Arnoldus De Beer (December 25, 1825 – 1878) and Johannes Nicolaas De Beer (December 6, 1830 – June 20, 1883), who owned a South African farm named Vooruitzicht (Dutch for "prospect" or "outlook") near Zandfontein in the Boshof District of Orange Free State.

After they discovered diamonds on their land, the increasing demands of the British government forced them to sell their farm on July 31, 1871, to merchant Alfred Johnson Ebden (1820–1908) for £6,600.

Vooruitzicht would become the site of the Big Hole and the De Beers mine, two successful diamond mines.

Their name, which was given to one of the mines, subsequently became associated with the company.

Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the British South Africa Company, got his start by renting water pumps to miners during the diamond rush that started in 1869, when an 83.5 carat diamond called the 'Star of South Africa' was found at Hopetown near the Orange River in South Africa.

He invested the profits of this operation into buying up claims of small mining operators, with his operations soon expanding into a separate mining company.

He soon secured funding from the Rothschild family, who will finance his business expansion.

De Beers Consolidated Mines is formed on March 13, 1888 by the merger of the companies of Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes, by which time the company is the sole owner of all diamond mining operations in the country.