There, a co-operative effort by tribal leaders secured the protection of the British government against the marauding imperialism of Cecil Rhodes.

ECONOMIST: Creating economic wealth

The system today works in much the same way as it did when Cecil Rhodes first hatched his plans for a diamond empire a century ago.

ECONOMIST: THE DIAMOND BUSINESS

De Beers was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes.

BBC: Rough diamond held between tweezers

In his sights is a status unrivaled in the raw materials sector since Cecil Rhodes held sway over much of southern Africa in the 19th century through the diamond trading company he founded, De Beers.

FORBES: BY TIM TREADGOLD

Throw together all the output from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Wall Street and Tin Pan Alley, and you have a commercial empire that would have been the envy of the British East India Company or Cecil Rhodes.

ECONOMIST: America and empire

But De Beers , founded by British-born colonial expansionist Cecil John Rhodes in 1880, never let that happen.

FORBES: Fracture Lines

Cecil John Rhodes, a British imperialist who made a fortune in diamond mines and launched the de Beers diamond cartel, was one of those.

CNN: Seeds of Zimbabwe's land conflict were planted more than a century ago

Comparisons to the British colonial tycoon, Cecil John Rhodes, who established the Rhodes Scholars program in 1902 to bring scholars to Oxford University to study, were quickly and easily made.

FORBES: The New Colossus of Rhodes