There are gemstones that identify countries of America, as flowers, trees and animals do, which have been selected for their rarity, beauty, uniqueness or exclusivity. Each of these elements becomes part of the national symbols of each country, as well as the orchid in Venezuela, the ceibo flower in Argentina, the bald eagle in the United States, the carnation in Spain; the panda in China or the kangaroo in Australia. For these reasons, we will describe the gemstones of some countries of America:
Argentina: Although its name is derived from the term “argentum” which means silver, its emblematic gemstone is rhodochrosite. It should be noted that Argentina’s rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate which stands out in its appearance for having a beautiful pink color, one of the characteristics by which it is considered the best in the world.
Chile: This country adopted lapis lazuli as its national gemstone, which has been highly valued since ancient times, especially in countries like Afghanistan which, together with Chile, has the best deposits in the world. In Egypt it was a very important and precious stone, to the point that the funeral mask of Tutankhamen made of solid gold has lapis lazuli around the eyes and eyebrows.
Bolivia: This is one of the few countries in America that has a stone whose name is derived from its own name, bolivianite, which is a very particular variety of quartz since it has violet amethyst bands with yellow amber citrine bands, so it is also known as “ametrine”, which is the combination of both names. It is then a bicolor, clean and transparent quartz which is found in the Precambrian rocks of eastern Bolivia.
Brazil: This country is acknowledged worldwide for the quality of its precious stones, especially for the green and blue tourmalines, aquamarines, topazes, among others; however, its national stone is brasilianite, a basic phosphate of aluminium and sodium which is characterized by having a strange greenish yellowish colour in pale shades.
Colombia: This country has undoubtedly been identified worldwide for the unique beauty of its emeralds which come mostly from the Muzo mines. The emerald is the green variety of beryl, which can have different colors such as blue, aquamarine, gold; etc.
Mexico: It is another of the countries of America with a great diversity of minerals; but the stone that mostly identifies it is obsidian, which is found in many sites in different areas of this country. This stone was the volcanic glass, which served the Aztecs to attack the conqueror Cortez, using knives, swords and arrows with the tips of this mineral.
Peru: The national stone of this country is blue opal, also called Andean blue opal. It is a special stone, since it is almost the only variety of opals of this type in the world. Also, this gemstone is of great importance from the economic point of view because it is exported to countries such as China, the United States and all Europe.
Uruguay: The gemstone of this country is amethyst geodes since there are large deposits that stand out for their size and quality; even some of these stones reach more than 8 meters high.
Guatemala: This is one of the countries of America that stand out for its rich Mayan history in which jade has an important place; hence the national stone of this country has been named. It is one of the hardest gemstones to work with and is characterized by its intense green color.
Honduras: This is one of the countries of America that has selected black opal as its national gemstone because it is abundant and has special characteristics, since they are trapped in basalt rocks and at first glance they seem to be common rocks, but when wetting it, flashes of multiple colours that give it an extraordinary beauty begin to be observed.
Dominican Republic: The name of the gemstone of this country is little known, it’s called “Larimar” and belongs to the pectolite family, which attracts attention for its intense and precious bluish color. It was named as the national stone of the Dominican Republic a short time ago because it has a significant importance for the country by having the best specimens of this mineral in the world.
In a next article we will present the gemstones that identify the countries of America Part II because some countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, Nicaragua, United States, Costa Rica, Panama, among others are missing and which also have gemstones that identify them.
ALFA