Whilst Johannesburg is undoubtedly the economic centre of South Africa, and indeed the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, it is a relatively young city compared with Cape Town and other towns of the Cape Peninsula and Winelands.

In fact, it was not until the late 1880s that any form of settlement was started on the site of modern Jo'burg.  This was astoundingly over 200 years after the establishment of the Cape Colony at the foot of Table Mountain.

Since then, Johannesburg has grown into the busy city we know today, its landscape dominated by skyscrapers and covering over 500 km² of land.  There is now only less than 40 km between northern Johannesburg and southern Pretoria (the administrative capital of South Africa).

The Gauteng Province as a whole, although the smallest in South Africa, is home to nearly 45% of South Africa's urban population.

How it All Began

The story begins in 1886 when small traces of gold were found in the highveld area of the Gauteng province by an Australian prospector called George Harrison. He had, unbelievably, found the only surface outcrop of the world's richest gold-bearing reef.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't realise the value of his find, and sold his claim for only £10.   

Within a year, a small mining town of 10,000 inhabitants had been established. Within 10 years, the population had grown to 100,000, and everybody was involved with mining in some way.

The richest mine was the No 14 Shaft of the Crown Mines. This monster employed 30,000 miners, reached a depth of  3 km below the surface, and produced around 1,400 tonnes of gold in its lifetime.

It is now possible to visit this shaft at Gold Reef City where an interesting half hour tour will take you 220m (720ft) below the surface using the original mine lifts.

The gold mines eventually ceased operating in the mid 1970s, although some of the original dumps are now being re-mined to extract the deposits left behind during the original excavations.

Johannesburg Today

Many of Johannesburg's most important historical events occurred in the last few decades of the 20th century.

Nowhere were the inequalities and injustices of apartheid more apparent than in Jo'burg, and this led to the region becoming a focal point of the struggle for democracy.

Events such as the Sharpeville massacre, the shooting of Hector Pieterson, and the 4½ year trial of 156 men and women (including Nelson Mandela) for treason all happened in Jo'burg.

In the 1970s and 1980s the world's media increasingly focused on the violent clashes between protesters and the police and army in Johannesburg. Due to the media exposure, the city soon became known as one of the world's most violent and dangerous places.

However, since the 1994 elections, the city has become far safer and is now a thriving modern metropolis.

The best place to become fully familiar with the recent history of Johannesburg and the role it played in the struggle against apartheid is in the excellent Apartheid Museum.