Rhodes founded the de Beers diamond empire. And readily exploited Africa for his gain. The colony ‘Rhodesia’ once bore his name; it’s now known as Zimbabwe. Cecil Rhodes is also responsible for provocating the second Boer War (1899-1902) via the Jamestown raid.

However, Cecil Rhodes along with other British elites would have greater aims– that of a World Federation. Rhodes set up a secret society to pursue his goals.A select few– including Lord Milner, William Stead and Lord Rothschild were in on the plan… Rhodes left an endowment to set up the famous Rhodes Scholarship. But secretly, Rhodes also established the Round Table group that pulled its select initiates from Oxford and Cambridge institutions.

According to Prof. Quigley, Rhodes called for the formation of a secret society in five early wills– establishing a Rhodes Scholarship in his final will.

“leaving part of his great fortune to fund the Rhodes Scholarships at Oxford in order to spread the English ruling class tradition throughout the English speaking world as (his mentor Professor ar Oxford) Ruskin had wanted.” – Carroll Quigley Tragety and Hope

He left his fortune in the hands of Lord Rothschild in his third will– an instrumental partner in the quest to expand the British empire.

Well what I learned was that the diamond business wasn’t a business of extracting, as I originally expected – something of enormous value, and them simply seeing how much of this object you could get out of the ground, and selling it. That was what the business appeared to be when I started my venture. But their real business was restricting what came out of the ground, restricting what was discovered, restricting what got cut, restricting what actually found its way into the retail market. And at the same time, through movies, through advertising, through Hollywood, through the manipulation of perceptions – creating the idea that there was this enormous demand for these shiny little objects…

Because it is a virtual monopoly, DeBeers cannot operate legally in the United States. All site holders must travel here to buy their rough gems, to a building known only as Charterhouse Street. This is a fortress where 80% of the world’s diamonds gem diamonds are sorted, grated, and sold.

What makes this cartel different is it’s controlled by a single company. A single commercial organization, and that’s DeBeers. And DeBeers itself is controlled by another South African company Anglo American. Interestingly, Anglo American is controlled by DeBeers. And that interlocking ownership is what allows one small family company,E. Oppenheimerand Sons, who own just a small shareholding in Anglo American, to control the whole edifice.