Johannesburg ( ) also known as
Jozi,
Jo'burg or eGoli, is the
largest city in
South Africa.
Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng
, the
wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of
any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa. The city is one of the
40 largest metropolitan areas in
the world and it is one of only six of Africa's global cities, the other being Cairo
, Cape Town
, Casablanca
, Nairobi
and Port Louis
.. While Johannesburg is not officially one of
South Africa's three capital
cities, it does house the Constitutional
Court
South Africa's highest court.Johannesburg is the
source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade, due to its
location on the mineral-rich Witwatersrand
range of hills. Johannesburg is served
by O.R.
Tambo International Airport
, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international
air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa.
According to the 2007 Community Survey, the population of the
municipal city was 3,888,180 and the population of the
Greater Johannesburg
Metropolitan Area was 7,151,447 .
A broader definition
of the Johannesburg metropolitan
area, including Ekhuruleni
, the West
Rand
, Soweto
and Lenasia
, has a
population of 10,267,700 . The municipal city's land area of
is very large when compared to other cities, resulting in a
moderate
population density of
.
Johannesburg once again includes Soweto
, which was a
separate city from the late 1970s until the 1990s.
Originally an acronym for "SOuth-WEstern TOwnships", Soweto
originated as a collection of settlements on the outskirts of
Johannesburg populated mostly by native African workers in the gold
mining industry. Eventually incorporated into Johannesburg, the
apartheid regime (in power 1949 - 1994)
separated Soweto from the rest of Johannesburg to make it a
completely Black area.
Lenasia
is also part
of Johannesburg.
Gauteng
is growing
rapidly due to mass urbanisation which is a feature of many
developing countries.
According
to the State of the Cities Report, the urban portion of Gauteng
comprised primarily of the cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni
(the East
Rand
) and Tshwane
(greater Pretoria
) will be a polycentric urban
region with a projected population of some 14.6 million people
by 2015.
History
The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by
San tribes. By the 1200s, groups of
Bantu-speaking peoples started moving
southwards from central Africa and encroached on the indigenous San
population.
By the mid 1700s, the broader region was
densely settled by various Sotho-Tswana
communities (one linguistic branch of Bantu-speakers), whose
villages, towns, chiefdoms and kingdoms stretched from what is now
Botswana
in the west, to present day Lesotho
in the south, to the present day Pedi areas of the northern
Transvaal.
More specifically, the stone-walled ruins of
Sotho-Tswana towns and villages are scattered
around the parts of the former Transvaal in which Johannesburg is
situated. The Sotho-Tswana practiced farming, raised cattle, sheep
and goats, and extensively mined and smelted copper, iron and tin.
Moreover,
from the early 1960s until his retirement, Professor Revil Mason,
of the University of the
Witwatersrand
, explored and documented many Late Iron Age archeological sites throughout the
Johannesburg area, dating from between the 1100s and 1700s, and
many of these sites contained 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.Many Sotho-Tswana towns and villages in the
areas around Johannesburg were destroyed and their people driven
away during the wars emanating from Zululand during the late 1700s and early 1800s
(the mfecane or difaqane wars), and as a result, an offshoot of the
Zulu kingdom, the Matabele, set up a kingdom to the
northwest of Johannesburg around modern day Hartebeestpoort
and Rustenburg
, and historians believe that the Matebele kingdom
dominated the Johannesburg area. The Dutch speaking
Voortrekkers arrived in the early 1800s,
driving away the Matebele with the help of Sotho-Tswana allies,
establishing settlements around Rustenburg and Pretoria in the
early 1830s, and claiming sovereignty over what would become
Johannesburg as part of the South African Republic or Transvaal
Republic.
Gold was discovered in the 1880s and
triggered the
gold
rush.
Gold was initially discovered some
400 km to the east of present-day Johannesburg, in Barberton
. Gold prospectors
soon discovered that there were even richer gold reefs in the
Witwatersrand
. Gold was discovered at Langlaagte,
Johannesburg in 1886.
Johannesburg was a dusty settlement some
55 km from the Transvaal Republic capital which was Pretoria
. The town was much the same as any small
prospecting settlement, but, as word spread, people flocked to the
area from all other regions of the country, as well as from North
America, the United Kingdom and Europe..
As the value of
control of the land increased, tensions developed between the
Boer government in Pretoria and the British
, culminating in the Jameson
Raid that ended in fiasco at Doornkop
in January 1896 and the Second Boer
War (1899-1902) that saw British forces under Lord Roberts occupy the city on 30 May 1900
after a series of battles to the south of its
then-limits.
Fighting took place at the Gatsrand Pass (near
Zakariyya Park) on 27 May, north of Vanwyksrust -today's
Nancefield, Eldorado Park and Naturena - the next day, culminating
in a mass infantry attack on what is now the waterworks ridge in
Chiawelo and Senaoane on 29 May.
Controversy surrounds the origin of the name, as there were any
number of people with the name "Johannes" who were involved in the
early history of the city.
The principal clerk attached to the office
of the surveyor-general, Johannes Rissik, Christiaan Johannes
Joubert, member of the Volksraad and the
Republic's chief of mining, Paul Kruger,
President of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal
). Rissik and Joubert were members of a
delegation sent to England to attain mining rights for the area.
Joubert had a park in the city named after him and Rissik street is
today a main street where the (now dilapidated) Post Office and
City Hall are located.
Government
- Main articles: City of
Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Regions of Johannesburg
[[File:Johannesburg 2006 regions with
legend.PNG|thumb|right|
Region A Diepsloot, Kya
Sand
Region B :
Randburg, Rosebank, Emmarentia,
Greenside, Melville, Northcliff, Rosebank, Parktown, Parktown
North
Region C :
Roodepoort, Constantia Kloof,
Northgate
Region D :
Doornkop, Soweto, Dobsonville,
Protea Glen
Region E :
Alexandra, Wynberg,
Sandton
Region F :
Inner City
Region G :
Orange Farm, Ennerdale,
Lenasia]]During the
apartheid era, Johannesburg was
divided into 11 local authorities, seven of which were white and
four
black or
coloured. The white authorities were 90%
self-sufficient from
property tax and
other local
taxes, and spent
ZAR 600 (
USD 93) per
person, while the black authorities were only 10% self-sufficient,
spending R 100 (USD 15) per person.
The first post-apartheid City Council was created in 1995. The
council adopted the slogan "One City, One Taxpayer" in order to
highlight its primary goal of addressing unequal tax revenue
distribution. To this end, revenue from wealthy, traditionally
white areas would help pay for services needed in poorer, black
areas. The City Council was divided into four regions, each with a
substantially autonomous local
regional authority that was to be overseen by a central
metropolitan council.
Furthermore, the municipal boundaries were
expanded to include wealthy satellite towns like Sandton
and Randburg
, poorer neighbouring townships such as Soweto
and Alexandra
, and informal settlements like Orange Farm.
In 1999, Johannesburg appointed a city manager in order to reshape
the city's ailing financial situation. The manager, together with
the Municipal Council, drew up a blueprint called "Igoli 2002".
This was a three-year plan that called upon the government to sell
non-core assets, restructure certain utilities, and required that
all others become self-sufficient. The plan took the city from near
insolvency to an operating
surplus of R 153 million (USD 23.6 million).
Following the creation of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan
Municipality, Johannesburg was divided into eleven administrative
regions (these regions did not correspond to the areas governed by
the former local authorities). In 2006, the number of
administrative regions was consolidated, from eleven to
seven.
[9314]
Crime
After the
Group Areas Act was
scrapped in 1991, Johannesburg was affected by
urban blight.
Thousands of poor, mostly black people,
who had been forbidden to live in the city proper, moved into the
city from surrounding black townships like Soweto
and many
immigrants from economically beleaguered and war torn African
nations flooded into South Africa, with Johannesburg the most
Northerly major city and therein a logical choice.
Many
buildings were abandoned by landlords,
especially in high-density areas, such as Hillbrow
. Many corporations and institutions,
including the stock
exchange, moved their headquarters away from the city centre,
to suburbs like Sandton
.
Reviving the city centre is one of the main aims of the municipal
government of Johannesburg. Drastic measures have been taken to
reduce crime in the city. These measures include
closed-circuit television on
street corners. As of December 11 2008, every street corner in
Johannesburg central is under high-tech
CCTV surveillance. The CCTV
system, operated by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department
(JMPD), is also able to detect stolen or hijacked vehicles by
scanning the number plates of every vehicle traveling through the
Central business district
(CBD), then comparing them to the eNaTIS database. The CCTV system
has proven to be very effective. The average response time by
police for crimes committed in the CBD is under 60 seconds.
Crime levels in Johannesburg have dropped as the economy has
stabilised and begun to grow. Between 2001 and 2006, R9-Billion
(US$1.2 Billion) has been invested in the city centre. Further
investment of around R10-Billion (US$ 1.5 Billion) is expected in
the city centre alone by 2010. This excludes development directly
associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In an effort to prepare
Johannesburg for the
2010 FIFA World
Cup, local government has enlisted the help of former New York
mayor
Rudolph Giuliani to help
bring down the crime rate, as the opening and closing matches of
the tournament will be played in the city.
Geography
Johannesburg is located in the eastern
plateau area of South Africa known as the Highveld
, at an elevation of . The former CBD is located on the south side
of the prominent ridge called the Witwatersrand
(Afrikaans: White Water's
Ridge) and the terrain falls to the north and south. By and
large the Witwatersrand marks the watershed between the Limpopo and
Vaal rivers. The north and west of the city has undulating hills
while the eastern parts are flatter.
Climate
Johannesburg features a
Subtropical
highland climate. The city enjoys a dry, sunny climate, with
the exception of occasional late afternoon downpours in the summer
months of October to April. Temperatures in Johannesburg are
usually fairly mild due to the city's high altitude, with the
average maximum daytime temperature in January of , dropping to an
average maximum of around in June. Winter is the sunniest time of
the year, with cool days and cold nights. The temperature
occasionally drops to below freezing at night, causing
frost.
Snow is a rare occurrence,
with snowfall having been experienced in May 1956, August 1962,
June 1964, September 1981 and August 2006 (light). Snow fell again
on 27 June 2007, accumulating up to in the southern suburbs.Regular
cold fronts pass over in winter bringing very cold southerly winds
but usually clear skies. The annual average rainfall is , which is
mostly concentrated in the summer months. Infrequent showers occur
through the course of the winter months.
Despite the relatively dry climate, Johannesburg has over ten
million trees, and it is now the biggest man-made forest in the
world, followed by Graskop in Mpumalanga that is the second
biggest. Many trees were originally planted in the northern areas
of the city at the end of the 19th century, to provide wood for the
mining industry. The areas were developed by the
Randlord,
Hermann
Eckstein, a German immigrant, who called the forest estates
Sachsenwald. The name was changed to Saxonwold, now the name of a
suburb, during
World War I. Early
(white) residents who moved into the areas (Parkhurst, Parktown,
Parkview, Westcliff, Saxonwold, Houghton Estate, Illovo, Hyde Park,
Dunkeld, Melrose, Inanda, Sandhurst) now collectively referred to
as the Northern Suburbs retained many of the original trees and
planted new ones, with the encouragement of successive city
councils. In recent years, however, a considerable number of trees
have been felled, to make way for the Northern Suburbs' residential
and commercial redevelopment.
Demographics

Geographical distribution of home
languages in Johannesburg.
According to the 2001
South
African National Census, the population of Johannesburg is
3,225,812 people, though including the East Rand and other suburban
areas it's around 7 million, consisting of people who live in
1,006,930 formal households, of which 86% have a flush or
chemical toilet, and 91% have
refuse removed by the municipality at least once a
week. 81% of households have access to running water, and 80% use
electricity as the main source of
energy. 22% of Johannesburg residents stay in informal dwellings.
66% of households are headed by one person.
Black Africans account for 73% of the population, followed by
whites at 16%,
coloureds at 6% and Asians
at 4%. 42% of the population is under the age of 24, while 6% of
the population is over 60 years of age. 37% of city residents are
unemployed. 91% of the unemployed are
black. Women comprise 43% of the working population. 19% of
economically active adults work in wholesale and retail sectors,
18% in financial,
real estate and
business services, 17% in community, social and personal services
and 12% are in manufacturing. Only 0.7% work in
mining.
32% of Johannesburg residents speak
Nguni
languages at home, 24% speak
Sotho
languages, 18% speak English, 7% speak
Afrikaans and 6% speak
Tshivenda. 29% of adults have graduated from
high school. 14% have higher education
(
University or
Technical school). 7% of residents are
completely
illiterate. 15% have
primary education.
34% use
public transportation
to
commute to
work or school. 32% walk to work or school. 34%
use private transportation to travel to work or school.
53% belong to mainstream
Christian
churches, 24% are not affiliated with any organized religion, 14%
are members of
African
Independent Churches, 3% are
Muslim, 1%
are
Jewish and 1% are
Hindu.
Cityscape

The skyline of Hillbrow.

The Southern Life Centre

The KwaDukuza eGoli Hotel

Carlton Centre.

Absa Bank, one of the largest banks in
Africa.

Sandton City, one of the Largest
Shopping Centres in the Southern Hemisphere.
Johannesburg is one of the most modern and prosperous cities in
South Africa. Due to its many different central districts
Johannesburg would fall under the Multiple Nuclei Model in Human
Geography terms. It is the hub of South Africa's commercial,
financial, industrial, and mining undertakings. Johannesburg is
part of a larger urban region. It is closely linked with several
other satellite towns.
Randburg
and Sandton
form part of the northern area. The east and
west ridges spread out from central Johannesburg. The Central
Business District covers an area of 6 square kilometres.
It
consists of closely packed skyscrapers such as the Carlton
Centre
, Marble Towers,
Trust Bank Building, Ponte City
Apartments
, Southern Life
Centre and 11
Diagonal Street
.
Architecture
Johannesburg is home to some of Africa's tallest structures, such as the Sentech Tower
, Hillbrow
Tower
and the Carlton Centre
. The Johannesburg city skyline has most of
the tallest buildings on the continent and contains most
international organisations such as
IBM,
Absa,
BHP Billiton,
Willis Group,
First National Bank,
Nedbank and
Standard
Bank. Many of the city's older buildings have been pulled down
and more modern ones built in their place.
North of the CBD is
Hillbrow
, the most densely populated residential area in
southern Africa. Northwest of the CBD is Braamfontein
, a secondary CBD housing many offices and business
premises.
Parks and gardens
Parks and gardens in Johannesburg are maintained by
Johannesburg City Parks. They are
also responsible for maintaining and planting the millions of trees
in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg Botanical
Garden, located in the suburb of
Emmarentia, is a popular recreational
park.
Residential Areas
Johannesburg's residential areas range from luxurious, wooded
suburbs, to shanty towns and squatter settlements. Alexandra, a
township northeast of the city centre, is home to about 125,000
people. It was established by workers who migrated from rural areas
in the late 1930s. Since the 1980s, large numbers of people have
moved to Johannesburg in search of work. A lack of housing in the
city has forced many to set up squatter settlements on the
outskirts of the city. Most of these communities lack electricity
and running water, and residents live in makeshift shacks made of
scrap metal,board, and other discarded materials. In some
settlements, such as Phola Park south of Johannesburg, town
planners have attempted to build streets and provide residents with
basic needs.
Economy
Johannesburg is one of the world's leading financial centres and it
is the economic and financial hub of South Africa, producing 16% of
South Africa's
gross domestic
product, and accounts for 40% of Gauteng's economic activity.
In a 2007 survey conducted by MasterCard, Johannesburg ranked 47
out of 50 top cities in the world as a worldwide centre of commerce
(the only city in Africa) .
Mining was the foundation of the Witwatersrand
's economy, but its importance is gradually
declining due to dwindling reserves and service and manufacturing
industries have become more significant to the city's
economy. While gold mining no longer takes place within the
city limits, most mining companies still
have their
headquarters in
Johannesburg. The city's manufacturing industries extend across a
range of areas and there is still a reliance on heavy industries
including
steel and
cement plants. The service and other industries
include banking, IT, real estate, transport, broadcast and print
media, private health care, transport and a vibrant leisure and
consumer retail market. Johannesburg has Africa's largest stock
exchange, the
JSE although it has moved
out of the central business district. Due to its commercial role,
the city is the seat of the provincial government and the site of a
number of government branch offices, as well as consular offices
and other institutions.There is also a significant informal economy
consisting of cash-only street traders and vendors. The level of
this economic activity is difficult to track in official statistics
and it supports a sector of the population including immigrants who
are not in formal employment. However, it is clear that the
informal economy operating in Johannesburg is certainly one of the
biggest in the world.
The Witwatersrand urban complex is a major consumer of water in a
dry region.
Its continued economic and population growth
has depended on schemes to divert water from other regions of South
Africa and from the highlands of Lesotho
, the biggest of which is the Lesotho Highlands
Water Project, but additional sources will be needed early in the
21st century.
The
container terminal at City Deep is known to be the largest "dry
port" in the world, with some 60% of cargo that arrives through the
port of Durban
and
Cape
Town
arriving in Johannesburg. The City Deep area
has been declared an IDZ (industrial development zone) by the
Gauteng government, as part of the
Blue
IQ Project.
Retail
Johannesburg's largest shopping centre is
Sandton
City
, while Hyde Park is one of its
most prestigious. Other centres include Rosebank, Eastgate
, Westgate,
Northgate,
Southgate, The Glen
Shopping centre, Johannesburg South, and Cresta
. There are also plans to build a large
shopping centre, known as the Zonk'Izizwe Shopping Resort, in
Midrand
. "Zonk'Izizwe" means "All Nations" in
Zulu language, indicating that the centre will
cater to the city's diverse mix of peoples and races. Also a
complex named Greenstone in Modderfontein has been opened and is
intended to become the largest shopping complex in the southern
hemisphere.
Communications and media
The city is home to several media groups which own a number of
newspaper and magazine titles. The two main print media groups are
Independent Newspapers and Naspers (Media24). The electronic media
is also headquartered in the greater metropolitan region.
Beeld is a leading
Afrikaans newspaper for the city and the country ,
while the
City
Press is a Sunday newspaper that is the third largest
selling newspaper in South Africa .
The
Sowetan is one of a number of titles catering for the
black market although in recent years it competes against newly
arrived tabloids.
The Mail
& Guardian is an investigative liberal newspaper while
The
Citizen is a tabloid-style paper,
and The Star is a
local newspaper that mostly covers Gauteng
-related
issues. The
Sunday Times is the
most widely read national Sunday newspaper . True Love is the most
widely read women's magazine , catering primarily to the up and
coming middle class black female market, published by Media 24.
The Times is a national newspaper that
covers current issues.
Media ownership is relatively complicated with a number of cross
shareholdings which have been rationalised in recent years
resulting in the movement of some ownership into the hands of black
shareholders. This has been accompanied by a growth in black
editorship and journalism.
Johannesburg has a number of regional radio stations such as
YFM, Metro FM,
Phalaphala FM, Talk Radio 702,
Highveld Stereo,
5FM, UJ FM and Kaya FM and Classic FM. The number of
radio stations has increased in recent years as the government sold
off frequencies to private companies. Johannesburg is also the
headquarters of state-owned broadcaster
South African
Broadcasting Corporation and pay broadcast network Multichoice
which distributes
M-Net and DStv a digital
satellite service, while
eTV also
has a presence in the city. etv is the only other terrestrial
broadcaster and it is free-to-air and funded by advertising
revenue.
The city has two television towers, the
Hillbrow
Tower
and the Sentech Tower
.
Johannesburg has 4 Major Cellular Telecommunisations operators:
Vodacom,
MTN Group,
Cell C, and
Virgin
Mobile.
Vodacom's Global Headquarters is located in
Midrand
. It was formed in 1994, just after the South
African Elections of 1994.
Music
Kwaito is the musical genre from Johannesburg
that is considered to be the post-struggle (post-apartheid) music
of choice by South African youth. Some consider Kwaito to be
apolitical dance music because the same lyrics are typically
repeated throughout the entire song and are placed over the rhythms
and beats of
House music.
Kwaito has touched more than the music scene in South Africa. In
recent years, it has become deeply embedded in young South African
culture because it represents "the streets", street life, and the
people who live there. As Grant Clark notes after his trip to
Johannesburg, "Kwaito has evolved its own street style. It's not
just music, it's the way you walk, talk, dance, and of course,
dress."
Suburbs
Johannesburg's suburbs are the product of extensive urban sprawl
and are regionalised into north, south, east and west, and they
generally have different personalities.
While the Central
Business District
and the immediate surrounding areas were formerly
desirable living areas, the spatial accommodation of the suburbs
has tended to see a flight from the city and immediate
surrounds. The inner city buildings have been let out to the
lower income groups and illegal immigrants and as a result
abandoned buildings and crime have become a feature of inner city
life.
The
immediate city suburbs include Yeoville
, a hot spot for black nightlife despite its
otherwise poor reputation. The suburbs to the south of the
city are mainly blue collar neighbourhoods and situated closer to
some
townships. The suburbs
to the west have in recent years floundered with the decline of the
mining industry but have in some cases experienced some revival
with properties being bought up by the black middle class. The
biggest sprawl lies to the east and north. The eastern suburbs are
relatively prosperous and close to various industrial zones. The
northern suburbs have been the recipient of most of the flight from
the inner city and some residential areas have become
commercialised particularly around the area of Sandton, stretching
north towards Midrand, a half way point between Johannesburg and
the capital Pretoria.
Traditionally the northern and northwestern
suburbs have been the centre for the wealthy, containing the
high-end retail shops as well as several upper-class residential
areas such as Hyde Park, Sandhurst, Northcliff and Houghton
, where Nelson Mandela
makes his home. The northwestern area in particular is
vibrant and lively, with the mostly-black suburb of Sophiatown
once centre of political activity and the
Bohemian-flavoured Melville
featuring restaurants and nightlife.
Auckland Park
is home to the headquarters of the South African
Broadcasting Corporation, AFDA (The South
African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance) and the
University
of Johannesburg
.
To the
southwest of the City Centre is Soweto
, a mostly
black urban area constructed during the apartheid regime
specifically for housing African people who were then living in
areas designated by the government for white
settlement.
To the
south of Johannesburg is Lenasia
, a mostly Asian area which was constructed during
the Apartheid era specifically to house Asians. It is closer
to the city centre and smaller than Soweto.
Tourism
- See also: :Category:Visitor
attractions in Johannesburg

Image from the Central Business
district of Johannesburg

Johannesburg region map with
names.

One of the numerous skyscrapers of the
city.
Johannesburg has not traditionally been
known as a tourist destination, but the city is a transit point for
connecting flights to Cape
Town
, Durban
, and the
Kruger
National Park
. Consequently, most international visitors
to South Africa pass through Johannesburg at least once, which has
led to the development of more attractions for tourists.
Recent
additions have centred around history museums, such as the Apartheid Museum
and the Hector
Pieterson Museum. Gold Reef City
, a large amusement
park to the south of the Central Business District, is also a
large draw for tourists in the city. The Johannesburg
Zoo
is also one of the largest in South
Africa.
The city also has several
art museums, such as
the
Johannesburg Art
Gallery, which featured South African and European landscape
and figurative paintings. The
Museum
Africa covers the history of the city of Johannesburg, as well
as housing a large collection of
rock art.
The
Market
Theatre
complex attained notoriety in the 1970s and 1980s
by staging anti-apartheid plays, and has now become a centre for
modern South African playwriting. The
Johannesburg Civic Theatre is
South Africa's foremost
"receiving house" of live
entertainment - presenting world class theatre, both local and
international
[9315].
There is
also a large industry around visiting former townships, such as Soweto
and Alexandra
. Most visitors to Soweto go to see the
Mandela Museum, which is located in
the former home of
Nelson
Mandela.
The
Cradle of
Humankind
[9316] a UNESCO World Heritage Site is to
the northwest of the city. The Sterkfontein
fossil site is famous for
being the world's richest hominid site and produced the first adult
Australopithecus
africanus and the first near-complete skeleton of an early
Australopithecine.
Other
attractions in this area include the Lesedi
Cultural Village
, while Magaliesburg
and the Hartbeespoort Dam
are popular weekend (and holiday) destinations for
Johannesburg residents.
The
Suburbs of Melville
, Newtown,
Parkhurst
, Norwood
and Greenside are
popular for their bohemian atmosphere,
street life, and many restaurants and bars.
Sports teams and stadiums
Johannesburg's most popular sports by participation are
association football,
cricket,
rugby union, and
running.
The Lions, formerly the Cats, represent
Johannesburg, North
West and Mpumalanga
in the Southern Hemisphere's Super 14 Rugby Competition, which includes teams
from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand
.
Cricket is one of the more popular sports.
In cricket, the
Highveld Lions represent
Johannesburg, the rest of Gauteng as well as the North West
Province at the Wanderers
Stadium
which was the venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup Final in which
Australia successfully defended their title. Wanderers
Stadium hosted what many cricket fans consider the greatest ever
ODI match in which
South Africa
successfully chased down 434 runs. They take part in the
first class SuperSport Series, the
one-day MTN Domestic Championship and the
Twenty20 Standard Bank Pro 20
Series.
Johannesburg also hosted matches from and the final of the
ICC World Twenty20. in which India beat
Pakistan in the final.
Early each Sunday morning, tens of thousands of runners gather to
take part in informal runs organised by several athletic clubs. The
city has several football clubs in the
Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the
First Division.
In the PSL, the top Johannesburg teams are
all fierce rivals and include Kaizer Chiefs (also known as the
Amakhosi), Orlando Pirates (also known as
the Buccaneers) and Moroka Swallows, based at the
city's Johannesburg
, Rand
, and
FNB
stadiums
respectively. Witwatersrand University,
nicknamed the
Clever Boys, who have a player membership of
over 1,500, one of the world's largest are also part of the premier
league.
First Division teams include Katlehong City
and Alexandra United, who play at Alexandra
and Reiger Park stadia respectively
Transport
Johannesburg, much like Los
Angeles
, is a young and sprawling city geared towards
private motorists, and lacks a convenient public transportation
system. A significant number of the city's residents are
dependent on the city's informal minibus taxis.
Airports
OR Tambo International Airport Terminal B
is served by
OR Tambo International
Airport
(formerly
Johannesburg International
Airport) for both domestic and international flights.
Other
airports include Rand
Airport
, Grand Central Airport
, and Lanseria
. Rand Airport, located in Germiston
, is a small airfield used mostly for private
aircraft and the home of South
African Airways's first Boeing 747
Classic, the Lebombo, which is now an aviation museum. Grand
Central is located in Midrand and also caters to small, private
aircraft.
Lanseria Airport
is used for commercial flights to Cape Town
, Durban
, Port
Elizabeth
, Botswana
, and Sun City
.
Freeways
The fact that Johannesburg is not near a large navigable body of
water has meant that ground transportation has been the most
important method of transporting people and goods in and out of the
city. One of Africa's most famous "beltways" or ring roads/orbitals
is the
Johannesburg Ring
Road.
The road is composed of three freeways that converge on the city, forming an loop
around it: the N3
Eastern Bypass, which links Johannesburg with Durban
; the
N1 Western Bypass,
which links Johannesburg with Pretoria
and Cape
Town
; and the N12 Southern Bypass,
which links Johannesburg with Witbank
and Kimberley
. The
N3 was built exclusively with
asphalt, while the
N12 and
N1 sections were made with
concrete, hence the nickname given to the N1
Western Bypass, "The Concrete Highway". In spite of being up to 12
lanes wide in some areas (6 lanes in either direction), the
Johannesburg Ring Road is frequently clogged with traffic. The
Gillooly's Interchange, built on an old farm and the point at which
the N3 Eastern Bypass and the
R24 Airport
Freeway intersect, is the busiest interchange in the Southern
Hemisphere. It is also claimed that the N1 is the busiest road in
South Africa.
Johannesburg has the most freeways connected to it. It has the
N1,
N3,
N12,
N14,
N17,
R21,
R24 and the
R59, all leading to Johannesburg.
The
M1 and
M2
freeways were built to direct traffic towards the city centre.
These two freeways are congested due to mass urbanisation.
Taxis

A full minibus taxi.
Johannesburg has two kinds of taxis,
metered
taxis and
minibus taxis. Unlike
many cities, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the city
looking for passengers and instead must be called and ordered to a
destination. The Gauteng Provincial Government has launched a new
metered taxi programme in an attempt to increase use of metered
taxis in the city.
The minibus "taxis" are the
de facto standard and
essential form of transport for the majority of the population.
Since the 1980s The minibus taxi industry has been severely
affected by
turf
wars.
Mass transit
Johannesburg's metro railway system connects
central Johannesburg to Soweto
, Pretoria
, and most of the satellite towns along the Witwatersrand
. The railways transport huge numbers of
workers everyday. However, the railway infrastructure was built in
Johannesburg's infancy and covers only the older areas in the
city's south.
The northern areas, including the business
districts of Sandton
, Midrand
, Randburg
, and Rosebank
, currently lack rail infrastructure.
Trains
A part of
the Gauteng Provincial Government's Blue IQ Project, Gautrain has made provision for the creation of a
rapid rail link, running north to south,
between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and west to east between Sandton
and Johannesburg International
Airport
. Construction of the
Gautrain Rapid Rail started in October 2006 and
will be completed by 2011. It will consist of a number of
underground stations, as well as above ground stations.
Stations
on the northern line include Johannesburg's Park Station, Rosebank, Sandton
, Midrand
and Pretoria
. There will also be a line from the OR Tambo
International Airport
traveling to Sandton.
The east-west line from the airport to Sandton is planned to be
operational in time for the
2010
FIFA World Cup in June 2010.
The rail system is being designed to alleviate traffic on the
N1 freeway between Johannesburg
and Pretoria, which records vehicle loads of up to 300,000 per day.
. An extensive bus feeder system is also being implemented, which
will allow access to the main stations from the outer suburbs. This
will be the first new railway system that has been laid in South
Africa since 1977. .
Buses
Johannesburg is served by a
bus fleet operated
by
Metrobus, a
corporate unit of the City of Johannesburg. It has a fleet
consisting of approximately 550 single and double-decker buses,
plying 84 different routes in the city. This total includes 200
modern buses (150 double-deckers and 50 single-deckers), made by
Volvo and Marcopolo/Brasa in 2002. Metrobus'
fleet carries approximately 20 million passengers per annum. In
addition there are a number of private bus operators, though most
focus on the inter-city routes, or on bus charters for touring
groups. The City's main bus terminus is situated in Gandhi Square,
where passengers can also obtain information regarding the Metrobus
service from the walk-in customer information desk.
PUTCO also operated buss routes in and around
the city.
Rea Vaya - Bus Rapid Transit
Rea Vaya started its Starter Service to the public on the
31
st of August 2009. This starter service includes a
Trunk Route (Thokoza Part to Ellis Park) and two inner city
loops.
Costs:
Trunk Route - R5.00
Inner City Route - R3.00
Tickets are valid for 2 hrs and allow any number of
transfers.
The City of Johannesburg has completed construction on its new
Phase 1A
Bus Rapid Transit system.
The BRT project, titled Rea Vaya (We are moving), aims to rid the
city's roads of congestion and promote safe, efficient and reliable
public transport. It will run seven days a week, from 05h00 until
midnight. Bus frequencies will be between two and five minutes
during peak hours, and seven and ten minutes during the off-peak.
The system will operate on main roads throughout the city, running
down designated median lanes. Rea Vaya will also offer additional,
smaller feeder-buses to areas around each BRT station to ensure
speedy connections from homes to main routes. The BRT stations will
be located every 500m along each BRT route, offering ticket vending
machines and live travel information. Larger BRT stations will also
offer sales kiosks, bathrooms and park and ride facilities. The BRT
system has been designed with other transport modes in mind, so as
to ensure a smooth change from various transportation options -
particularly with the
Gautrain. The first
phase of the BRT is intended to be up and running in time for the
2010 FIFA World Cup.
Rea Vaya
Website
Education and Culture
Johannesburg has a well-developed
higher education system of both
private and
public universities.
Johannesburg is
served by the public universities University
of the Witwatersrand
and the University of Johannesburg
.
University
of Johannesburg
was formed on 1 January 2005 when three separate
universities and campuses—Rand Afrikaans University
, Technikon
Witwatersrand, and the Johannesburg campuses of Vista University—were merged. The
new university offers education primarily in English and
Afrikaans, although courses may be taken in any of
South Africa's official languages.
The
University of the
Witwatersrand
is one of the leading universities in South Africa,
and is famous as a centre of resistance to apartheid.
Private
universities include Monash
University, which has one of its eight campuses in Johannesburg
(six of the other campuses are in Australia, while the eighth is in
Malaysia
), and Midrand
Graduate Institute which is located in Midrand.
Johannesburg also boasts one of the finest
film schools in the world; winning amongst
others the Academy Award's Oscar for Best Foreign Student Film in
2006. The South African School of Motion Picture and Live
Performance, or
AFDA for short, is situated in
Auckland Park.
Johannesburg also has three teacher-training colleges and a
technical college. There are numerous kindergartens, primary
schools and high schools in the region. Libraries, art galleries
and museums are plentiful. One of them is MuseumAfrica, located in
the CBD. Specialist museums cover subjects such as Africana,
costume, design,
fossils,
geology,
military
history,
medical,
pharmacy,
photography
and transportation networks such as
railways.
Gold Reef City
, a living museum, was originally part of the Crown
Mines Complex, where gold was mined to a depth of . The
Market Theatre stages plays, comedy shows, and musical
performances. The Civic Theatre complex hosts
drama,
opera and
ballet.
The Giant Wheel, a ferris wheel found at Gold Reef City
Museums in Johannesburg
The Following is a list of all the museums in Johannesburg.
AECI Dynamite Factory Museum
The AECI Dynamite Factory Museum, housed in the 1895 residence of a
mining official, records the history of explosives, with particular
emphasis on their use in the mining industry. It also provides a
social commentary and insight into the part played by some of the
world famous figures who helped shape the destiny of southern
Africa.
Adler Museum of Medicine
History of Medicine, brainchild of Dr Cyril Adler, was formally
inaugurated 1962. The Museum's role was to collect and preserve for
posterity all material that would illustrate the History of
medicine in general and of South Africa in particular.
Apartheid museum
Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill is the home of the Constitutional Court, but also
the site of Johannesburg’s notorious Old Fort Prison Complex,
commonly known as Number Four, where thousands of ordinary people
were brutally punished before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many
of South Africa’s leading political activists, including Mahatma
Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were detained here.
Hector Peterson Museum
The Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto commemorates the 566 people
who died in the student uprising that followed the events of 16
June 1976. The museum is named for Hector Peterson, a 12-year-old
boy who was the first person shot dead by police on that day, and
is located near a memorial to his death.
James Hall Transport Museum
The James Hall museum of Transport is the largest and most
comprehensive museum of land transport in South Africa. It was
established by the late Jimmie Hall together with the City of
Johannesburg in February 1964.
Madiba Freedom Museum
Named after the former President Mandela's clan. The museums theme
is Mzabalazo and charts South Africa's journey to democracy.
Museum Africa
You step into the typical 1950s shebeen at Museum Africa in
Newtown, down town Johannesburg, and an automatic motion monitor
churns out a Marabi tune. Such exhibits, laying bare, as they do,
the heart and soul of inner city Johannesburg, make a trip to the
museum a worthwhile experience.
Origins Centre Museum
Located
on the campus of the University of the
Witwatersrand
in Braamfontein
, this museum contains some excellent examples of
southern African rock art.
Bernberg Fashion Museum
Bernberg Fashion Museum is a primarily a museum collection,
consisting of objects, and explains why and how clothing has
changed and how the fashions of the past influence those of
today.
South African National Museum of Military History
It is the only museum of its kind in South Africa and provides a
nucleus of Museum and military history expertise in southern
Africa. At the Museum you can see all types of guns, tanks,
armoured cars, aircraft and naval hardware, including a
midget submarine called the Molch used by
the Germans in the Second World War (1939 - 1945).
Zoology Museum
The Zoology Museum is the only natural history museum in
Johannesburg which is unusual since all the other major cities in
South Africa have large public natural history museums. It has
retained a unique character as the display specimens are exhibited
in finely crafted teak cabinets which allow the viewer to engage
directly with scores of objects at close range.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Johannesburg's
sister cities
are:
See also
Notes
- Principal Agglomerations of the World
- GaWC Research Bulletin 5, GaWC, Loughborough University, 28 July
1999
- http://www.sacities.net/2006/pdfs/cities_2006.pdf
- [1], IOL - Joburg Surveillance Zooms In, .
- Drop in serious crime in Jo'burg, Mail &
Guardian Online, .
- [2], engineeringnews.co.za - Joburg's
residential projects are supporting an acceleration of the
rejuvenation effort , .
- Press Release 6 August 2006, City of Johannesburg is calling for Internal
Branding Advice from Global Gurus.
- Jozi's urban forest now at trees, and growing
by Lucille Davie, .
- Joburg advertises its successes by Ndaba Dlamini,
.
-
http://www.assr.nl/conferences/documents/StaffsempaperBourgouinnov.2008.pdf.
-
http://www.mastercard.com/us/company/en/wcoc/pdf/WCoC_Brochure_FINAL.pdf
-
http://architectafrica.com/bin0/features-GreenstoneMall-Bentel-05.html
- http://www.africanwireless.com/vodacom_history.htm
- Clark, Grant. "Kwaito: The Voice of Youth." From BBC World
Service "Rhythms of the Continent: South Africa".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/rhythms/southafrica.shtml
- [3], 23 May 2006
- www.johannesburg-direct.com/activity/visit-museum-africa
- http://www.places.co.za/html/johannesburg_museums.html
References
- Early Johannesburg, Its Buildings and People. Hannes
Meiring, Human & Rousseau. 1986. 143 pages. ISBN
0-7981-1456-8
- Gold! Gold! Gold! The
Johannesburg Gold Rush. Eric Rosenthal, AD. Donker, 1970, ISBN
0-949937-64-9
- Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis. Sarah Nuttall.
Duke University Press. 9 January 2005. 210 pages. ISBN
0-8223-6610-X.
- The Corner House: The Early History of Johannesburg.
Alan Patrick Cartwright. MacDonald. 1965. 293 pages.
External links
Government
Other