The history of gold goes back at least 6,000 years, with references to it in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. In ancient times, gold was thought to have healing properties when worn or even ingested.
From the time of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492 to 1600, more than 8,000,000 ounces of gold, or 35 percent of the world’s production came from South America. The New World’s mines-particularly those in Colombia-continued into the 17th and 18th centuries to account for 61 and 80 percent, respectively, of world production. In the 18th century, 48,000,000 ounces were mined.
Russia became the world’s leading producer of gold in 1823, and for 14 years it contributed the bulk of the world’s supply. From 1850 to 1875, more gold was produced in the world than in all the years since 1492, primarily because of discoveries in California and Australia. A significant increase in gold production stemmed from discoveries in Alaska, the Yukon Territory and South Africa. Gold production continued to rise throughout the 20th century, partly because of the improvement in recovery methods and partly because of the continual growth and expansion of South Africa’s gold-mining operations.
In the late 20th century, South Africa, Russia, the United States and Australia accounted for two-thirds of the gold produced annually throughout the world. South Africa alone produces about one-third of the world’s gold.