In 1902 a young man of German origin, Ernest Oppenheimer, arrived in Kimberley to run the local office of his family's diamond-trading company, Dunkelsbuhler & Co. The establishment of De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888 had brought the diamond producers in Kimberley under centralised control in which Dunkelsbuhler was involved on the trading side. Oppenheimer turned the firm's attention to the newly discovered gold fields on the Witwatersrand. He bought up a number of gold- mining companies on the far East Rand in particular, and by 1916 his newly formed firm, the Rand Selection Company, had taken control of most of the richest gold fields in the sector. But buying up and especially developing these gold fields during World War 1 posed challenges. European investment was in short supply, and the Oppenheimers' German connections were not helpful in raising capital in Europe. story_article_left1So in 1917 Oppenheimer founded Anglo American to try to capture the huge investment potential of the American capital markets - hence the use of American in the company's name. He was spectacularly successful, with three of Anglo's original six directors being American, including representatives from JP Morgan & Company and the Newmont Mining Corporation.With Anglo American's position in the gold-mining industry secure, Oppenheimer was keen to extend his influence in diamonds, but his initial attempts to strike a deal with De Beers were rebuffed. By 1914, the Namibian diamond fields were producing 21% of Southern Africa's total output. After the outbreak of war, South Africa occupied the German colony (known then as South West Africa) and functioned as "the Custodian for Enemy Property". It took control of the Namibian diamond fields. When the war ended the South African government pressured German companies in Namibia to sell out to British-oriented South African companies. Working quietly and behind the scenes, one of Anglo American's directors, former South African minister of finance HC Hull, entered into secret negotiations with the South African government to sell the German diamond companies in Namibia to Anglo American, neatly sidestepping De Beers. Although Anglo did not have sufficient financial resources at the time to purchase the diamond fields on its own, another of its directors, the JP Morgan group, put up the money. Anglo American now had a major foothold in southern Africa's richest diamond fields. In 1929, with the financial support of the giant Rothschild Group, Anglo took over De Beers and appointed Ernest Oppenheimer as its new chairman. The company's next challenge was a new and very rich gold field discovered in what was then the Orange Free State and the far West Rand. However, the gold-bearing reef in the new field lay much deeper underground than on the Witwatersrand and, being highly fractured, was very difficult to mine. After the Sharpeville massacre on March 21 1960 the apartheid government declared a state of emergency. A serious flight of capital out of South Africa ensued. Flush with profits from the Free State gold fields, Anglo bought up shares cheaply in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, finance, banking, and property. Afrikaner business interests tried to take over Johannesburg Consolidated Investment in which Anglo held a 50% interest. Anglo blocked the bid. But it was clear it needed to find some compromise which would enable Afrikaner business interests to gain a stake in the mining industry, so the company agreed to the Afrikaner takeover of General Mining. After the first democratic elections in 1994 the South African Reserve Bank relaxed exchange controls, enabling a number of large South African companies to invest abroad and move overseas. Anglo was no exception, moving its head office to the UK where it listed on the London Stock Exchange. Innes is the author of "Anglo American and the rise of modern South Africa"..