Hopetown lies on the Orange River just over one hundred kilometers to the South of Kimberley and is close to the border between the Northern Cape Province and the Free State. The town was first established in 1854 as a Dutch Reformed Church parish, the first church being constructed of mud and manure. The town was originally called Gonna, meaning Place of Water, but was renamed in honour of one Major William Hope, a government acting secretary.

In 1866 a young Afrikaans farmer was visiting a friend's farm when he noticed his friend's son playing with a small white pebble. After sending the stone through the mail to Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape for testing it was later realized that the pebble was, in fact, a 21 carat diamond, which became known as the Eureka diamond. An eighty-three carat diamond was found a few years later on the farm Zandfontein that was herald the great South African diamond rush.