Imagine a town in the desert, where sand dunes live in the houses instead of citizens. Each year the sand takes over more and more of the town. The history of this place is dramatic, mysterious, and looks more like a legend than a historical fact. Kolmanskop is an abandoned town in the south of Namibia. It used to be a rich and prosperous town of diamond miners. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the richest town in what was called German South-Western Africa. 10% of the world’s diamond mining was concentrated there. But 60 years ago, the citizens left Kolmanskop, and it fell into ruin. Other videos you might like:
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A diamond fever 1:37 💎
Kolmanskop becomes one of the richest towns 3:12
Why everything changed… 5:26
The ghost town turns out into a museum 8:05
What happened to the man who started it all 9:11 #diamond #africa #brighside SUMMARY:
– The real story of Kolmanskop started in 1908, when a railroad worker, Zakharias Lewala, found an unusual stone in the sand not far from the railroad.
– Soon after, the African desert all of a sudden became a sought-after place for living and working. A diamond fever began. – Kolmanskop very quickly became one of the richest Namibian towns. The newly born capital of diamond fever was built in German style with German solidity.
– Kolmanskop had its own label of soda, lemonade and sausages. Even roses and eucalypt trees grew in the city in the desert. – Kolmanskop citizens were so rich that they could afford inviting opera singers and theater companies from Europe.
– In the first 6 years of its existence, about 5 million carats of diamonds were discovered, which is about a ton of stones. – In 1936, after the Great depression, they started developing mines on the Orange River. Kolmanskop citizens began moving to different places, and a couple of years later, the administration moved away too. – In 1956, the Kolmanskop hospital was closed, and the last citizens left the formerly prosperous town forever. – In 1980 “De Beers” made the ghost town into a museum.
– The current locals of Kolmanskop are the staff of the museum, bugs, and vipers. It’s hardly possible to imagine this town in its hay day.
– August Stauch invested his fortune from the diamonds in different projects, both in Germany and Africa. But the Great Depression didn’t spare him, and he lost most of his money. Music by Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Subscribe to Bright Side : https://goo.gl/rQTJZz
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