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The village settlements in the area, Sheung Yuen Leng and Ha Yuen Leng , predated British colonization, and may have been established as early as the early eighteenth century.
There were squatter dwellings up and down the hill that were demolished after years of effort by the Hong Kong Government. The squatter population peaked at around 50,000 people. Parts of the squatter settlement were demolished over the years, including for expansion of the Kai Tak Airport during the Japanese occupation, construction of the Mass Transit Railway, Lung Cheung Road, and the Tate's Cairn Tunnel. Due to the dramatic shortage of public housing available for resettlement, the final sections were only demolished in 2001.
Contrary to its name, the area does not contain any diamond deposits. There are a number of theories as to why the misnomer came about, but the most accepted version states that the English name for this area was a simple mistranslation, for in Cantonese, the word "??" can mean either "diamonds" or "to drill for rocks". In this case, the area was known as a stone quarry for many years before urban development took place. Due to that, the English name only became a euphemism. There are other theories as to why the area became known as "Diamond Hill", such as the crystals contained within the rocks mined from the area have a diamond-like luminance, or that the hill resembles the shape of a diamond.
