Gauteng Province, South Africa

Gauteng, South Africa

South Africa

The Sotho word, Gauteng, means “Place of Gold”. Johannesburg was originally a mining camp, literally in the middle of nowhere. Today it is major modern Metropolis; a hub to which people are drawn. The contrast between the wealthy northern suberbs and Soweto is an insight into the legacy of apartheid. The place of gold is a perfect stop over enroute to other destinations within Southern or South Africa.

Whilst the region around the city of Johannesburg is incredibly ancient and includes the discovery of a 3½ million-year-old Australopithecus africanus in a cave near Sterkfontein, just outside Jozi, the city’s exciting history began only in 1886 with the discovery of gold and the Witwatersrand reef. It didn’t take long for the population of the city to explode from a few shanties into what became, and has remained, the largest city in South Africa. Today Johannesburg is one of the world’s youngest major cities and the powerhouse of the African continent.

The discovery of gold in the region of Johannesburg spurred a mass migration to the area of people wanting to try their luck. The resultant settlement that mushroomed within the space of three years was named by two men, with the first name ‘Johannes’ in common. It leaves little to the imagination then, as to the origin of the city’s name. ‘Burg’, the second syllable, is the Afrikaans word derived from the Dutch ‘village’, similar in some ways to the English word ‘burgh’ meaning ‘town’.