Wednesday, 8 September 2010

The History of the Antwerp Diamond Centre

History Timeline

BOOM AND BUST

15th Century - 16th Century

By the 15th century Antwerp, which is located on the Scheldt river with direct access to the North Sea, had become a primary diamond centre. It was a position that it has maintained ever since.

The first recorded evidence of the existence of diamond trade in Antwerp was in 1447, when a city magistrate issued an edict demanding that strict measures be taken prevent the trade in false precious stones, including diamonds. In 1483, a certain Wauter Pauwels is listed as a diamond cutter when he is admitted as a member to the Cathedral Fraternity of our Lady’s Honour.


Antwerp’s position in the diamond trade was bolstered further by the discovery of a direct sea route to India by the Portuguese mariner Vasco da Gama in 1498, and the shift in the trade balance from Venice to Lisbon. With relatively easy passage possible between Lisbon and Antwerp, the Flemish city continued to consolidate its position in the diamond trade and industry.


The 16th century brought the dawn of a Golden Age for Antwerp. The city was the commercial heart of Europe, with 40 percent of world trade passing through its ports. Rough diamonds arrived in the city via the trade routes from Venice and Lisbon, and they were cut and polished by craftsmen who had gained a widespread reputation as being the most skilled in their field. The first documented evidence of diamond cutting in Antwerp is from 1515, although it is likely that diamond cutters were at work in city before then.


However, fortunes once again shifted with changes in the European political power structure. The Eighty Years' War which broke out in 1572 following the religious revolution of the Reformation impacted hard upon Antwerp. This, however, did not prevent the establishment of the first diamond cutters guild, the Diamantsnijdernatie, in 1582.


Antwerp became the capital of the Dutch revolt, but in 1585 it was captured by Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. Many of its Protestant diamond cutters were sent into exile, and they found their way to Amsterdam in the north. Among the Antwerp citizens who brought the diamond industry to Amsterdam were Willem Vermaet, who reached the Dutch city in 1586, and Peter Goes, who settled there in 1589.