The origins of Tanzanite are said to have started millions of years ago when metamorphic schists, formed flat-topped inselbergs on a plain found in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The crystals were said to have grown in deposits on the inside of these unusual elevations. For a long time they were hidden from the eye of man, until one day some passing Masai shepherds noticed some sparkling crystals lying in the sun and took them along with them. Fast forward a couple million years and you get to mid 1967. A Portuguese fortune hunter named Manuel d'souza was traveling along the eastern part of Africa in search of rare quality ruby and sapphire. He came near a place just below Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, where he happened to stumble upon a mass of lustrous blue rocks, which, at first was mistaken by him as sapphire. Little at that point of time could he imagine what he had just discovered. Soon, the inconspicuous stone was labeled 'Tanzanite', after its place of origin and was sent fourth to the gem lovers across the globe. In 1969, Tanzanite hit the American market, catapulting to incredible popularity. Specialists passionately celebrated, calling it the 'gemstone of the 20th century'. Today, the only known source of Tanzanite is a five square mile hilltop at Merelani, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Only a few miles short from its mystical discovery said to have occurred millions of years ago.
