Johannesburg is a large city in Gauteng Province of South Africa. It was established as a small village controlled by a Health Committee in 1886 with the discovery of an outcrop of a gold reef on the farm Langlaagte. September 20 1886 was when President Paul Kruger declared the area (now known as Johannesburg), open for public diggings. The population of the city grew rapidly, becoming a municipality in 1898. In 1928 it became a city making Johannesburg the largest city in South Africa. In 2002 it joined ten other municipalities to form the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Today, it is a centre for learning and entertainment for all of South Africa. It is also the capital city of Gauteng.
Prehistoric Era The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by hunter-gatherers who used stone tools. The Magaliesberg valley north of Johannesburg was ideal for farming, and farmers settled there by the 6th century. By the 13th century, stone-walled ruins of Sotho–Tswana towns (e.g. Kweneng) and villages are scattered around the parts of the former Transvaal in which Johannesburg is situated. Many of these sites contain the ruins of Sotho–Tswana mines and iron smelting furnaces, suggesting that the area was being exploited for its mineral wealth before the arrival of Europeans or the discovery of gold. The most prominent site within Johannesburg is Melville Koppies, which contains an iron smelting furnace.Mason, Revil, Origins of Black People of Johannesburg and the Southern Western Central Transvaal, AD 300-1880, Occasional Paper No. 16 of the Archeological Research Unit (University of the Witwatersrand), 1986.
Republican Era
European Settlement and gold mining
After the Great Trek European pastoralists also started settling in the Transvaal. Some of them chose to farm where Johannesburg was to rise later. Each burgher (citizen) was entitled to at least one farm, measuring 1500 morgen or about 3100 acres. The first recorded discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand was made by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884, on the farm Vogelstruisfontein. Other farms to become famous later included Langlaagte, Turffontein, Doornfontein and Braamfontein. George Harrison is today credited as the man who discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in February 1886.MJ Viljoen & WU Reimold, An Introduction to South Africa's Geological and Mining Heritage, Mintek, Randburg, 1999, p. 33. On 12 May 1886 Harrison and his partner, George Walker, entered into a prospecting agreement with the owner of Langlaagte, one G.C. Oosthuizen. Two days later Colonel Ignatius Ferreira staked out his camp on Turffontein to serve as a centre for diggers.Viljoen & Reimold, supra, p. 33. Louwrens Geldenhuys found the Main Reef on Turffontein and Henry Nourse located it on Doornfontein. On 8 September 1886 nine farms, extending from Driefontein in the east to Roodepoort in the west, were declared public diggingsViljoen & Reimold, supra, p. 34. Carl von Brandis was appointed as the mining commissioner for the area. On 8 November 1886 a diggers' committee was elected to assist the mining commissioner in the execution of his duties.John R Shorten, Die verhaal van Johannesburg, Voortrekkerpers, Johannesburg, 1970, p. 94, to be quoted later as Shorten(1).
The earliest mining activities were concentrated along and adjacent to the outcrops of the main reef. Initially the diggers could perform the work themselves, using relatively little equipment. As the pits grew deeper, they needed additional labourers and machinery. Black Africans were recruited to perform the unskilled work. Machinery had to be imported from Europe and fuel had to be found to power the machinery.Viljoen & Reimold, supra, p.35 The discovery of coal on the far east Rand at Springs and Boksburg, as well as the construction of the Rand Steam Tram from the colliery to the gold fields and into Johannesburg facilitated the growth of the industry in its early years.Diana Cammack, The Rand at War, University of Natal Press, Pietersmaritzburg, 1990, p. 2. Soon, too, the railway arrived from the coast: in September 1892 the Cape railway reached the Rand. Two years later the line from Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) arrived in the Republic and a third route was opened from Durban the next year.Cammack, supra, p. 46. In 1890 the MacArthur-Forrest cyanidation process successfully overcame the problems of treating the refractory ore from deeper levels.Viljoen & Reimold, supra, p. 35.
It soon became apparent that individual diggers were not equal to the task of mining gold in Johannesburg. Wealth could only be recovered by means of deep-shaft working and by capital-intensive companies having the necessary technical skills.Trewhella Cameron (general editor), An Illustrated History of South Africa, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg, 1986, p. 184. Individual claims were soon joined into small mining groups. The amalgamation of smaller mining groups became a common occurrence and by 1895 the scene was dominated by a limited number of large monopolistic companies. These companies were: the Wernher-Beit-Eckstein group, Consolidated Goldfields, the J B Robinson group, the S. Neumann group, the Albu group, the A Goerz group, the Anglo-French group and the Lewis-Marks group. Of these, Cecil John Rhodes's Consolidated Goldfields was the most important.Cameron, supra, p. 185.
In 1893 Johannesburg's first stock exchange was opened. From then until today Johannesburg has been the seat of the South African stock exchange and the country's financial heartland. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is presently in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic became the single biggest gold producer in the world, with a contribution of 27,5 percent in 1898.Cameron, supra, p. 184.
Founding of a city The fledgling town of Johannesburg was laid out on a triangular wedge of "uitvalgrond" (area excluded when the farms were surveyed) named Randjeslaagte, situated between the farms Doornfontein to the east, Braamfontein to the west and Turffontein to the south. The property belonged to the government. The Surveyor-General of the ZAR issued an instruction that the farm be surveyed as a township, consisting of 600 stands measuring fifty feet by fifty feet. The first auction of stands took place on 8 December 1886.E.L.P. Stals (editor), Afrikaners in die Goudstad, Hollandsche Afrikaansche Uitgevers Mpy, Pretoria, 1978, The settlement was named after two officials of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), Christiaan Johannes Joubert and Johannes Rissik, who both worked in land surveying and mapping. The two men combined the name they shared, adding 'burg', the archaic Afrikaans word for 'fortified city'.
Early in 1887 the inhabitants started petitioning the government to proclaim a town council for the area. Eventually in November 1887 a proclamation was issued instituting a health committee. Its area was defined as "the place Johannesburg, including the stands known as Marshall Town and Ferreira's Town".Shorten(1), supra, p. 156 The committee's authority extended for a radius of three miles from the market square.Elizabeth Ann Cripps, Provisioning Johannesburg 1886–1906, M.A.-dissertation, Unisa, 2012, p. 9 The mining commissioner and the district surgeon were to be ex-officio members of the committee. The area of the committee's jurisdiction was to be divided into five wards. Each ward could elect one committee member. All adult male inhabitants had the vote. In 1890 six wards were proclaimed, each ward being entitled to elect two committee members.Stals, supra, p. 114.
It was only in 1897 that the government approved, in terms of Act 9 of 1897, a town council for Johannesburg. In terms of the Act the area was divided into 12 wards. Each ward could elect two town councillors, one of which had to be a citizen of the ZAR.Shorten(1), supra, p. 206 Johan Zulch de Villiers became the first mayor of Johannesburg in October 1897.
The Rissik Street Post Office was built in 1897, having been designed by the architect Sytze Wierda. The Post Office was at one time the tallest building in Johannesburg. The Post Office became a national monument in 1978, and it remained in operation until 1996 when the South African Post Office vacated the building. The monument was gutted by a fire in 2009. The old City Hall is opposite the Post Office in Rissik Street.
Gold rush Within ten years of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg by Jan Gerrit Bantjes, 100 000 people flocked to this part of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic in search of riches. Colonials, escaping the boredom of small-town life, joined Indians trekking from the sugar fields of Natal. Cape Coloureds and Chinese shopkeepers mixed with Africans, eager to experience the fast pace of urban life. Artisans and miners from the gold and silver fields of the Americas and Australia, from coal and tin mines of Europe, joined the wagon loads of men who had learnt their craft in the pits of Kimberley. Jews in search of freedom and employment, headed south to Africa from Eastern Europe and Russia. Mine managers and businessmen, solicitors and engineers, men with skills, education and contacts, confident of their expertise and frequently arrogant in their manner, took up positions in the burgeoning city of Johannesburg and in the new mines along the reef. In addition there were the pimps and adventurers, crooks and philanderers.Diana Cammack, The Rand at War, University of Natal Press, 1990, p. 1, quoting Butler, W.F., Sir William Butler: an autobiography, Constable & Co. Ltd, London, 1911.
In January 1890 the Health Committee conducted its first census of the town. They found that Johannesburg had 26 303 inhabitants. There were 13 820 buildings, of which 772 were shops and stores and 261 hotels and bars. The following suburbs were recorded: Booysens, Fordsburg, Langlaagte, Braamfontein, Auckland Park, Marshall's Town, Ferreira's Town, Prospect and Jeppe's Town. There was also a Coolie Location and a Veldtschoendorp, the latter being a shanty town occupied by Dutch citizens of the ZAR.Cripps, supra, p.173
Another census was conducted in January 1896. It was recorded that Johannesburg then had 102 078 inhabitants, of whom 61 292 lived within the three mile radius of Market Square and 40 786 outside. There were 50 907 Europeans or Whites, 952 Malays, 4 807 Asiatics, 2 879 mixed or other races and 42 533 Natives of whom 14 195 lived within the three mile radius and 28 838 outside. Of the 24 489 Whites born in Europe, 12 389 were from England and Wales, 997 from Ireland and 2 879 from Scotland. Of the 24 500 Europeans born in Africa, 6 205 were born in the Transvaal and 15 162 in the Cape Colony. New suburbs included: Klipfontein, Forest Town, Hillbrow, Berea, Yeoville, Bellevue, Houghton, Vrededorp, Paarl's Hoop, Robinson, Ophirton, La Rochelle, Rosettenville, Klipriviersberg, City & Suburban, Doornfontein, Bertrams, Lorentzville and Troyeville. It was also recorded that there was a Malay Camp, Brickfields, a Coolie Location and a Kafir Location.Cripps, supra, p. 174–176 Kliptown is the oldest Black residential district of Johannesburg and was first laid out in 1891 on land which formed part of Klipspruit farm.
Society From the start the city segregated itself spatially in terms of class and, to a lesser extent, race. Julius Jeppe and his partner, Lewis Peter Ford, bought a portion of the farm Turffontein. They had two townships surveyed and called them Fordsburg and Jeppestown. Both were next to the mines along the Main Reef. The stands in Fordsburg were auctioned is May 1887, but the prices were very low because the soil was marshy. The result was that white working-class families settled in Jeppestown and in Fordsburg factories, bars and "kafir-eating houses" sprang up.Stals, supra, p. 45.