<P> India's unique status as a producer of diamonds continued to fascinate Europeans . Marco Polo traveled along the coast of India in 1292, and recorded tales he heard about diamonds being found in deep mountain valleys made nearly inaccessible by heat, lack of water, and venomous snakes . The French traveler Jean Baptiste Tavernier visited the Krishna River diggings in 1665, and estimated that about 60,000 people were mining diamonds . </P> <P> The town of Karwan, near the fortress city of Golkonda, now a suburb of Hyderabad, became the world's largest diamond - cutting and diamond - trading center . Golconda was not close to diamond mines, but owed its status as a diamond center to its location on a major trade route from the mines to the south and east . The diamonds became known as Golconda Diamonds, and in Europe, the word Golconda came to mean a place of great wealth . </P> <P> India continued to be the world's leading source - and nearly the only source - of diamonds until diamonds were discovered in Brazil in 1726 . At first, Brazilian diamonds were reputed to be inferior, and did not command as high a price as the Indian article . To obtain better prices, Portuguese traders began shipping Brazilian diamonds through Goa, and then to Europe to be sold as genuine Golconda diamonds . Indian diamond mining declined rapidly in the 1700s, due to a combination of exhaustion of known deposits and competition from Brazil . </P> <P> As of 2017, there was one industrial - scale diamond mine in India, the Majhgawan mine, near the town of Panna, Madhya Pradesh . The deposit is in a kimberlite or lamproite pipe 6.5 ha in area, and yields 10 carats to the ton . Mining is done by an open pit, which was 85 m deep as of 2011 . Exploration drilling has established that the pipe continues down to at least 330 m . The mine is owned by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), employs 199 people, and has a productive capacity of 84,000 carats per year . The mine began regular production in 1967, and to date, has yielded slightly more than a million carats of diamonds . </P>

Which of these places is famous for diamond mines in india