Monazite sand was first noticed in the sand that was being carried from Brazil and was being carried in ship's ballast by Carl Auer von Welsbach in the years of 1880s. This happened when Von Welsbach was looking out for thorium for his newly invented incandescent mantles. Later Monazite sand was quickly adopted as the major source of thorium and became the foundation or part of the rare-earth industry.In the North Carolina part, the Monazite sand was briefly being mined which very shortly after some interval of time, extensive amounts of deposits were found in the southern India region. Both the Indian monazite and the Brazilian were dominating the industry before World War II started, after which the majority of the mining activity was transferred to South Africa. Large monazite deposits are also present in Australia.Monazite was the only significant and important source of lanthanides which were used for commercial purposes, but when the concern of disposal of the radioactive daughter products of thorium, bastnäsite came over, it resulted in the displacement of monazite in the production of lanthanides in the 1960s due to its much lower thorium content. Also, it may be possible that the increased interest in thorium for nuclear energy may bring monazite back into the commercial industry and the commercial use of it.