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Initially, diamonds started out being really expensive for the simple reason that they were hard to find. India used to be the only place you could get them, and it was a pain-in-the-ass process of sifting them out of river banks.

But then, in the last 19th century, a whole buttload of diamonds were discovered in South Africa. Under normal circumstances, this would have been the point at which diamonds just got really cheap for everyone. Aluminum, for instance, used to be more valuable than gold. But then we figured out a really easy way to get it, and that’s why a can of coke doesn’t cost $500.

But that didn’t happen to diamonds. Instead, this guy entered the picture: Cecil Rhodes. You may have heard of the Rhodes Scholarship or Rhodesia. Same guy.

By feverishly buying up all of South Africa’s diamond mines, Rhodes allowed his company, DeBeers, to essentially have monopoly control of the world’s diamond supply. By only selling a limited amount of them per year, DeBeers was able to keep prices artificially high.

But DeBeers wasn’t done. In the 1930s, diamond sales dropped off on account of that whole “everybody being broke” thing. So they thought up a brilliant plan: Just tell everyone that they have to pony up for a big diamond on their engagement ring.

Here’s some wedding rings from the early to mid 19th century. Notice anything? Not really a lot of diamonds, are there? There were some diamonds, to be sure, but they weren’t the central feature of the ring.

Through its “A Diamond is Forever” campaign, DeBeers singlehandedly popularized the entire notion of diamond engagement rings. This isn’t some hippie conspiracy theory, by the way: It’s right on DeBeers’ website.

Also, you know that whole thing where you’re supposed to spend two months’ salary on an engagement ring? It’s not in the Bible. It’s not some Ancient Welsh proverb. No; DeBeers invented that, too.