Before the beginning of the 20th century, the only means of obtaining pearls was by manually gathering very large numbers of pearl
oysters or
mussels from the ocean floor or lake or river bottom. The
bivalves were then brought to the surface, opened, and the tissues searched. More than a ton were searched to find at least 3–4 quality beads. To find enough pearl oysters, free-divers were often forced to descend to depths of over 100 feet on a single breath, exposing them to the dangers of hostile creatures, waves, eye damage, and
drowning, often as a result of
shallow water blackout on resurfacing. Because of the difficulty of diving and the unpredictable nature of natural pearl growth in pearl oysters, pearls of the time were extremely rare and of varying quality.
Americas In a similar manner as in Asia, Native Americans harvested freshwater pearls from lakes and rivers like the
Ohio,
Tennessee, and
Mississippi, while others successfully retrieved marine pearls from the
Caribbean and waters along the coasts of
Central and South America. In the time of colonial slavery in northern South America (off the northern coasts of modern
Colombia and
Venezuela), slaves were used as pearl divers. A diver's career was often short-lived because the waters being searched were known to be shark-infested, resulting in frequent attacks on divers. A slave who discovered a great pearl could sometimes purchase his freedom. The
Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s made it hard to get good prices for pearl shell. The natural pearls found from harvested oysters were a rare bonus for the divers. Many fabulous specimens were found over the years. By the 1930s, over-harvesting had severely depleted the oyster beds. The US government was forced to strictly regulate the harvest to prevent the oysters from becoming extinct, and the Mexican government banned all pearl harvesting from 1942 to 1963. Pearl diving in the
Ohio and
Tennessee rivers of the United States still exists today.
Colonial Latin America During the first half of the sixteenth century, Spaniards discovered the extensive pearl oyster beds that existed on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, particularly in the vicinity of
Margarita Island. Indigenous slavery was easy to establish in this area because it had not yet been outlawed; therefore, indigenous peoples were captured and often forced to work as pearl divers. Since violence could not protect the efficiency of the slave trade, coastal chieftains established a ransoming system known as the "
rescate" system. As this system continued to grow, more and more oyster beds were discovered along the Latin American coast, including near
Riohacha on Colombia's
Guajira Peninsula. However, due to over-exploitation of both indigenous labor and the oyster beds, the Spanish pearl economy soon plummeted. By 1540, previous Spanish settlements along the coast had been abandoned as the Spanish looked elsewhere for more labor and newer markets. The pearl industry was partially revived in the late sixteenth century when Spaniards replaced indigenous labor with
African slave labor. Oyster harvesting methods remained much the same along the coast and varied depending on the divers' conditions, the region's topography, and a Spanish master's work demands.
Venezuela On Margarita Island, small zones were inspected in advance by the divers, who relied on breath-hold endurance to dive and resurface. Once those small zones had been depleted of their oysters, the men on the boat – which usually included a dozen divers, a Spanish navigator, a diving chief, oarsmen, and a foreman – moved on to the next oyster bed. To retrieve the pearls, the divers carried a small net that had one end tied to the boat and the other end tied to the fishing net. The shells that they extracted were usually placed in this basket, but for dives of greater depth, the divers also had to wear stones tied to their bodies as they submerged into the ocean. The stones acted as a ballast until they resurfaced, where the divers then untied the stones from their bodies. The divers would receive a slight break to eat and rest and continue this work until sundown, where they all presented their catch to the foreman, return to the ranchería to have some dinner, and then open the oyster shells. The divers were locked in their quarters at night by the Spaniards, who believed that if the divers (who were mostly male) compromised their
chastity, they would not be able to submerge but rather float on the water. The divers who either had a small catch or rebelled were beaten with whips and tied in shackles. The working day lasted from dawn till dusk and being underwater, along with bruises, could affect the health of some divers. Furthermore, it is well known that the coastal waters were often infested with sharks, so shark attacks were quite frequent as well. As the fisheries continued to diminish, slaves hid some of the valuable pearls and exchanged them for clothing with their bosses. The pearl diving process in Cubagua varied slightly from other Spanish pearl diving practices. Here, there were six divers per boat and divers worked together in pairs to collect the pearls. These pearl divers used small pouches tied to their necks to collect the oysters from the sea bottom. Some scholars have reported that because of the climate in Cubagua, the heat would cause the oysters to open themselves, making the pearl extraction process a bit simpler. Natives, unlike Africans, were given less rest time and could potentially be thrown off the boat or whipped to commence work sooner. Similar to slaves on Margarita Island, all pearl diving slaves were chained at night to prevent escape; in addition, deaths not only resulted from shark attacks, but also from hemorrhaging caused by rapid surfacing from the water and intestinal issues induced by constant reentry into cold water. In Asia, some pearl oysters could be found on shoals at a depth of from the surface, but more often divers had to go or even up to deep to find enough pearl oysters, and these deep dives were extremely hazardous to the divers. In the 19th century, divers in Asia had only very basic forms of technology to aid their survival at such depths. For example, in some areas they greased their bodies to conserve heat, put greased cotton in their ears, wore a tortoise-shell clip to close their nostrils, gripped a large object like a rock to descend without the wasteful effort of swimming down, and had a wide-mouthed basket or net to hold the oysters. For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in areas such as the
Persian Gulf, the
Red Sea, and in the
Gulf of Mannar (between
Sri Lanka and India). A fragment of
Isidore of Charax's
Parthian itinerary was preserved in
Athenaeus's 3rd-century
Sophists at Dinner, recording
freediving for pearls around an island in the
Persian Gulf. illustration of a Chinese pearl-diving boat,
Song Yingxing's 1637
Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia of technology Pearl divers near the
Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the
Sulu Archipelago. In fact, pearls from the Sulu Archipelago were considered the "finest of the world" which were found in "high bred" shells in deep, clear, and rapid tidal waters. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, and selling them could result in the death penalty for the seller. Nonetheless, many pearls made it out of the archipelago by stealth, ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. Pearling was popular in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, India and some areas in Persian Gulf countries. The
Gulf of Mexico was particularly famous for pearling, which was originally found by the
Spanish explorers.
Eastern Arabia and Persian Gulf Pearl hunting represented a cornerstone of
Eastern Arabian economy, serving as a primary source of wealth generation and international trade. The industry's significance extended beyond mere economic value, fundamentally shaping social hierarchies and community organization in coastal settlements. The shallow Persian Gulf produced many pearls, and the pearling industry flourished in Kuwait, UAE, and Qatar, with Bahrain producing the highest export. In the lower Gulf, the economic model was less centered on personal ornamentation and more on the pearls’ ability to facilitate trade. The price for pearls increased throughout the nineteenth century, with the pearl trade expanding in this region. At this time, pearls from the Persian Gulf were being traded in
Aleppo and
Istanbul, and there is evidence that merchants would sail to India (particularly
Bombay) to sell pearls. By the 1930s, there were a few traders traveling all the way to Paris to sell their pearls. In the early twentieth century, it was estimated that about a quarter of the population living in the Persian Gulf's littoral was involved with the pearl trade. In the Persian Gulf, the pearling industry was dominated by slave labor, and male slaves were used as pearl divers until the final abolition of slavery in the
Gulf states in the period of 1937–1971. The pearling industry in this region reached its zenith around 1912, "the Year of Superabundance." During periods of acute scarcity—such as the nutritional crises of the 1940s—local populations resorted to unconventional sustenance practices like the consumption of dried, salted pearl
mollusk meat. The operation of pearl boats was characterized by a well-defined social hierarchy; roles on the vessels were allocated based on necessity rather than age alone, and included:
Europe Scotland Scotland is home to approximately half of the world's freshwater pearl mussels. Pearl hunting has been carried out in Scotland since the
Roman era. Writings by
Suetonius, the biographer of
Julius Caesar, suggest that
Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain in 55 BC and 54 BC were in part prompted by a desire to harvest Scotland's freshwater pearls. In 1621, the Kellie Pearl (or Kelly Pearl) – the largest freshwater pearl ever found in Scotland – was found in a tributary of the
River Ythan in Aberdeenshire; it was presented to
King James VI, who had it set in the
Crown of Scotland. Extensive fishing from the 16th to 19th centuries saw a large decline in pearl mussel numbers, resulting in the industry declining. Rising water temperatures also reduced the mussel population. William "Bill" Abernethy (1925–2021) was credited as Scotland's last dedicated pearl fisherman; he found the 43.6-grain
Abernethy pearl in the
River Tay in 1967. 1998, legislation was passed making it illegal to fish for or to sell freshwater pearls in Scotland. As of 2003, there were 61 known breeding sites in Scotland. ==Present==