History of Johannesburg

Jeppestown in 1888

Johannesburg CBD in 2005

Johannesburg is a large city in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The city was formally established in 1886 with the discovery of gold and the Witwatersrand reef. The population of the city grew rapidly, making Johannesburg the largest city in South Africa. Today, it is a centre for learning and entertainment for all of Africa.

Prehistoric Era

The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San people. They were hunter-gatherers who used stone tools. There is evidence that they lived there up to ten centuries ago. By the 13th century, groups of Bantu-speaking people started moving southwards from central Africa and encroached on the indigenous San population. Stone-walled ruins of Sotho–Tswana towns 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.

Republican Era

European Settlement and gold mining

Main Reef outcrop on original farms 1886.

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. 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. 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. 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 diggings 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.

Nineteenth century stamp battery to crush ore.

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. 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. 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. In 1890 the MacArthur-Forrest cyanidation process successfully overcame the problems of treating the refractory ore from deeper levels.

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. 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.

The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic became the single biggest gold producer in the world, with a contribution of 27,5 percent in 1898.

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. 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 the place Johannesburg, including the stands known as Marshall Town and Ferreira's Town. The committee's authority extended for a radius of three miles from the market square. 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.

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.

Gold rush

Within ten years of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg, 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.

Johannesburg around 1890.

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.

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.

Further information: Witwatersrand Gold Rush

Franchise

The law of the land provided that every White (European) male who had resided in the Transvaal for five years, could be naturalized and become entitled to vote for a representative in the Volksraad (house of assembly). As more and more foreigners (called Uitlanders) arrived in the country to dig for gold, the government realized as early as 1890 that these Uitlanders could easily gain control of the country. The solution was to create a Second Volksraad. Uitlanders who had been naturalized for two years were granted the right to vote for candidates for the Second Volksraad. The Second Volksraad only had a say in regard to specific matters relating to Johannesburg and the mines. The bills of this body only became law after ratification by the First Volksraad. The residential qualification enabling Uitlanders to vote for the First Volksraad was extended from five to fourteen years and the voting age increased to forty years. Only a small number of Uitlanders took the trouble to register as voters for the Second Volksraad.

Uitlander dissatisfaction persisted. Some of their main complaints were nepotism and corruption of officials. What upset them most was that the prices and quality of essential goods for the mining industry were adversely affected by the government's system of concessions. These included the supply of water to Johannesburg, the manufacture and distribution of liquor and dynamite and the construction of railway lines. Then too the republican machinery of state was primarily geared to meeting the needs of a pastoral-agricultural community and it did not have the skills to administer a rapidly growing industrial state. The time was ripe for rebellion. In Johannesburg a Reform Committee was formed, while Cecil John Rhodes, the prime minister of the Cape Colony, arranged for Leander Starr Jameson to invade the republic from the west. The Jameson Raid was a failure and all the culprits were arrested. Rhodes had to resign as prime minister.

Afterwards the British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, took up the cause of the Uitlanders in their fight for the franchise. He appointed fellow-imperialist, Alfred Milner, as British Commissioner in South Africa. No settlement could be reached and eventually, on 11 October 1899, war broke out between Great Britain and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

Second Boer War

Up to 31 May 1900

Flight

By May 1899 it began to look as though war was a real possibility. First to leave were the wives and children of middle and upper-class families. By June white miners joined the flight. Shop assistants and others in the urban economy were notified by their employers that their services would not be required after the end of the month. Between May and mid-October nearly 100,000 white people fled the district. Thus, at the onset of war, there were only about 10,000 whites in the city. The task of transporting this number of people — as well as the more than 100,000 non-whites who left — was an enormous one. At first only third-class passengers were consigned to trucks which normally carried coal, livestock or Africans. By the middle of October even first class passengers were quite happy to travel in coal trucks to the coast.

John Sidney Marwick was a civil servant in the employ of the Department of the Secretary for Native Affairs in the colony of Natal. In 1896 he was transferred to Johannesburg and appointed as Native Agent for Zululand. He was only twenty years old. His function was to look after the Zulu men working in the mines on the Witwatersrand. In 1897 alone, 20,615 Zulus from Zululand and Natal had registered at the pass office in Johannesburg. By the end of September 1899 some 5,000 Zulus were stranded in Johannesburg and Marwick obtained permission for them to walk back to Natal. They were to walk to the border at Volksrust, some 150 miles from Johannesburg. The march started on 6 October. On 11 October they reached the town of Standerton, where Marwick learnt that the Boers had delivered an ultimatum to the British and it would expire at five o'clock that afternoon. The Boer commandos, numbering some 8,000 men, had been assembling at Sandspruit on the road between Standerton and Volksrust. Marwick rode ahead to see General Joubert at Sandspruit, but found that the Boer forces had advanced to Volksrust. On 12 October the Zulus marched to within three miles of Sandspruit. That night a heavy downpour of rain came on. A large number of natives were suffering severely from exposure. The next day they reached Volksrust. They saluted General Joubert as they marched past him and then crossed the border into Natal. Unfortunately there were no trains available and the Zulus landed up behind some Boer commandos invading Natal. Marwick and his Zulus were eventually allowed through and they reached Newcastle on 14 October 1899, when the long march home ended. Some walked to Zululand, while others boarded trains for Durban.

Closing of mines

On 4 September 1899 the state attorney, Jan Smuts, wrote to the government that the mines would be of the utmost importance in the event of war. They would be a vital source of money if they could be kept open. To guarantee their operation, supplies of material and men had to be maintained and this, in turn, meant that whole staffs, even if British, had to be encouraged to stay. The government responded by reintroducing the Gold Law (Law 15 of 1898). It provided that after martial law had been declared, if a mine ceased operations, the government could order it to reopen and, if it did not comply, it could take over the operation itself. The government would then be entitled to use any gold thus won for its own benefit. The government would be obliged to return the mine to its owner upon repeal of martial law, provided that the owners had not been found guilty of high treason.

Over the weekend of 30 September many of the well-known mines closed, including Simmer & Jack, Wolhuter, Geldenhuis Deep, Henry Nourse and Ferreira. Robinson Deep closed on 3 October. By that time all the Consolidated Gold Fields mines had closed. On 7 October the government listed 66 major mines closed, with only 17 having applied to continue operations. Some mines offered bonuses to white workers if they remained. Some of the discharged Africans started rioting and looting. Thus blacks from Robinson Deep looted Chinese shops at Ophirton. On 8 October, at a 'puza' shop in the location near Vrededorp, shots were fired and shops looted. Some of the foreigners were arrested and charged with treason, like the jingoist editor of the Transvaal Leader R.J.Pakeman. Others joined the Boer forces, like John Y.F. Blake, an Irish-American, who commanded the First Irish Brigade. The Scandinavian corps, renowned for their bravery, was virtually wiped out at the battle of Magersfontein. Viscount Villebois-Mareuil formed a small French force.

Joburg under the Boers

In late September the government appointed a Rust en Orde (Peace and Order) commission. It consisted of D.E. Schutte (the peace-time commissioner of police), Dr F.E.T. Krause (the head public prosecutor) J.L.van der Merwe (the mining commissioner) and N.P.van den Berg (the head landdrost [magistrate].

Before apartheid

Johannesburg was initially controlled from Pretoria, the government capital of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republijk ZAR, or Transvaal Republic. The town was initially a small prospecting settlement.

As a result of efforts to control the rich resources, tensions developed between foreigners and the ZAR government, culminating in the South African War (1899–1902). The British government applied scorched-earth techniques that included the burning of crops and killing of livestock. Thousands of Africans and Boer women and children were forcibly moved from their land into concentration camps, where some 40,000 people perished.

In 1902, ZAR was annexed by the British Empire and the Peace of Vereeniging was signed. The war left the bulk of the Transvaal population homeless and destitute, forcing them to provide cheap labour and offer foreigners control of mining rights.

During 1910, Lord Milner, governor of the Union government that was part of the British Commonwealth, instituted Land Alienation Acts which forced more rural blacks to seek work at the mining hub.

After the National Party took power in 1948, it instituted the Group Areas Act and forcibly moved black population groups out of inner Johannesburg areas, such as Sophiatown, to the newly developed Soweto, a name derived from South West Townships. Today Soweto has more than 1 million inhabitants., served by shopping malls, clinics and the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the largest acute care hospital in the world, which serves ±1.5 million people and provides specialist treatment to South Africans and surrounding African states.

Soweto march

One of the most famous victims of the 1976 Soweto march, Hector Pieterson, was commemorated with a large Museum dedicated to his memory, in Soweto.

Twenty-first century

Johannesburg suburbs are multiracial. Urban crime and neglect triggered the large-scale migration of businesses and commerce away from the Central Business District to the more affluent northern suburbs such as Houghton and Parktown, and to northern cities such as Sandton, Midrand and Pretoria.

See also

• Timeline of Johannesburg history

Further reading

• Charles van Onselen, New Babylon new Nineveh, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 1982.
• Felix Stark, Seventy Golden Years, 1886-1956, Municipal Public Relations Bureau, 1956.
• Trewhella Cameron (general editor), An Illustrated History of South Africa, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg, 1986, ISBN 0 86850 118 2