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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

‘Pocket-sized symbol of colonial loot’: how New York’s mayor revived Koh-i-noor diamond debate

The queen mother's coronation crown bearing the Koh-i-noor diamond sits on top of her coffin
The queen mother's coronation crown bearing the Koh-i-noor diamond sits on top of her coffin after her death in 2002. Photograph: Tim Graham/Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images

It may not be the biggest or most precious jewel ensconced in the Tower of London, but few diamonds have a legacy to rival that of the Koh-i-noor.

Likely to have originated in southern India, the diamond’s history is that of a great disruptor across the subcontinent, exchanging hands over centuries through acts of war, violence and assassination from Mughal emperors, Persian invaders, Sikh Kings and eventually snatched by the British colonial rulers of India.

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