In the nineteenth century, European financiers and colonial powers, primarily British and Dutch (Boer) interests, controlled South Africa's vast gold and diamond companies. Figures like Cecil Rhodes amassed immense wealth by establishing mining monopolies. The miners were almost exclusively black Africans, recruited regionally. Their lives were harsh and exploitative, forced into dangerous underground work for very low wages. To control them, they were confined to closed compounds, segregated, and subjected to strict discipline and searches. They lacked political rights and faced discriminatory laws preventing land ownership or free movement. This system of cheap, controlled labor was crucial for mine profitability, laying the groundwork for apartheid.