It was probably not long after man first accidentally unearthed the first gem, that its scarcity and beauty made it a thing of value. So it has been ever since. Men have fought and died, wars have been waged, nations lost and lives broken over the need to possess certain gems or gem sites.

While some gems have a well-documented history that goes back to the beginning of recorded time -- gems such as coral, amber, ruby and carnelian -- other gems now gaining fans such as tourmalinated quartz, fire opal, apatite and Peruvian opal, to name just a few, have little if any documented history. But with each 'discovery,' the costly gems of the Big Four -- faceted diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire -- may have lost a little ground as more affordable choices have became available.

Gems have also played a bigger role in history than as mere objects of desire: they've been drivers of trade and exploration as well as valued for their special properties of healing and protection.

For instance, the demand for Baltic amber -- the original 'liquid gold' -- in the Greek city-states and later the Roman Empire stimulated the development of sea routes between the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. These routes became conduits for many other products such as tin, wine, slaves and precious metals.

Later, numerous land routes between the Baltic and the Mediterranean -- often along rivers -- developed to accommodate the amber trade. Tacitus (57-117 AD), Roman historian, wrote that amber was brought over land from the shores of the Baltic to the Danube; and the "barbarians were astonished at the price which they received in exchange for so useless a commodity."

And, around 100 BC, India's huge demand for the auspiciously-colored Mediterranean red coral was one of the few items helping to offset a huge trade imbalance between Rome and India -- an imbalance driven in large part by Rome's growing importation of luxury goods such as spices, aromatics, silks, gems, pearls and sandalwood -- as well as its insatiable desire for 'black gold,' piper nigram -- black pepper. Coral was especially prized by Indian women. Pliny (23-79 AD), another Roman historian, says [they] would "pay up to twenty times the weight of the coral in gold."

Gems continue as economic drivers today. The much maligned government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) exacts hard cash from the West by exploiting its jade and ruby deposits -- exploiting its native population at the same time. The area around Sierra Leone has just concluded a bitter war, ostensibly for 'freedom' but really about diamond rights.

Just as important is the role gems have played in popular culture as amulets and talismans protecting against illness and bodily harm. Just to give a few examples,

• Greek sailors carried aquamarine engraved with a likeness of Poseidon to protect them from storms at sea.
• An Assyrian chalcedony 'demon' amulet 3500 years old reads: "May Sîn, lord of the crown, quiet you; may Ninurta, lord of weapons, break your weapons; may Nergal, lord of the netherworld hold you in battle; may Ea and Asalluhi cut off your poison. Clear off!"
• Ancient Egyptians considered malachite to be under the spiritual dominion of Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of beauty, joy, love and women -- also known as the "Lady of Greenstone." They believed that wearing malachite in bands around the head and arms protected them from the frequent cholera epidemics that ravaged Egypt, and medical historians now believe that there may have been some validity to the practice.

Links in this section offer you the opportunity to journey through history, learning more about the fascinating men and women as well as the historical events, mythologies, folk tales and other associations with gems woven into each gem's story.