Kollur Mine
Diamond mine in India
The Kollur Mine was a series of gravel-clay pits on the south bank of the Krishna River in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It has produced many large diamonds, known as Golconda diamonds, several of which are or have been a part of crown jewels of various empires.
The mine was established in the early 17th century and operated until the mid-19th century.
History
Kollur Mine was discovered around 1619 and was the first of 23 diamond mines to open in Golconda. William Methwold, an English merchant, visited the mine with Andries Soury of the Dutch East India Company during a trip to India in 1621. According to them, between 20,000 and 30,000 people worked at the mine and "jewelers of all the neighbouring nations resorted to the place" following news of its discovery, which had caused a notable fall in diamond prices. Golconda mines were owned by the local king, who leased operation to diamond merchants, either foreigners or Indians of the goldsmith caste. As well as rent, the king received 2% from sales and was entitled to keep all diamonds weighing over 10 carats.
One of the largest and most productive diamond mines on the Indian subcontinent, it continued operating until the mid-19th century. At the height of production, up to 60,000 men, women, and children performed various jobs.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6427412. Authority coordinates are 16.703, 80.031. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1619 and 1621.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kollur Mine” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.