The British had taken from the Dutch in 1651 the little island of St Helena[147] (in the Atlantic Ocean), the Dutch having previously occupied it in 1645. This island became of some value as a place of call for ships passing to and from India round the Cape. In 1815 it was selected as the place of banishment for the deposed Napoleon Bonaparte; and to make security doubly sure, the islands of Ascension, to the north, and Tristan d’Acunha, to the extreme south[148], were occupied also about the same time, and have remained British ever since. Whereas Ascension has always been managed directly by the British Admiralty, St Helena was from 1673 until 1815, and from 1821 to 1834, governed by the East India Company. In 1834 it became a Crown Colony. Tristan d’Acunha was occupied by a British garrison from 1815 to 1821, of which three men remained behind voluntarily and with some shipwrecked sailors started the existing colony, which is a self-governing community. St Helena was profoundly affected by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. She lost nearly all the shipping which formerly sought her harbour, and three-quarters of her trade; but she is now beginning to recover prosperity to some degree as a valuable health resort, especially for the ships of the West African Squadron, and as a possible coaling station in time of war. Cape Colony might also have suffered from the opening of the Suez Canal but that she was already beginning to build up an importance of her own, due to her exports of wool, hides, wine, and ostrich feathers. Moreover a happy discovery intervened which effectually guarded against any waning of interest in South Africa. In 1867 the first diamond was discovered near the Orange river, but it was not until 1870 that a large find of these precious stones was made near the site of modern Kimberley. This discovery of diamonds to the north of the Orange river, and in country of doubtful ownership, but claimed by the Orange Free State, drove the now awakened British Government to rather sharp practice. The diamond-bearing land was claimed by a Grikwa (Hottentot half-caste) chief named Waterboer. On the other hand, the Orange Free State asserted that it had acquired the greater part of the country from the original Grikwa owners; and the northern part of Diamondland was claimed by the Transvaal. This last claim was submitted to the arbitration of the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, who awarded most of the diamond country to the Grikwa and Bechuana chiefs. These latter had really become the men of straw hiding the hand of the British Government. Finally, in 1871 Waterboer and other Grikwa chiefs ceded their rights to the British Government, who promptly erected the diamond country into a province under the name of Grikwaland West.