Johannesburg

Johannesburg (/dʒoʊˈhænɪsbɜːrɡ/ joh-HAN-iss-burg, US also /-ˈhɑːn-/ -⁠HAHN-, Afrikaans: [jʊəˈɦanəsbœrχ]; Zulu and Xhosa: eGoli [ɛˈɡɔːli]) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alone and over 14.8 million in the urban agglomeration, it is classified as a megacity and one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, and seat of the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court. The city is located within the mineral-rich Witwatersrand hills, the epicentre of the international mineral and gold trade. The richest city in Africa by GDP and private wealth, Johannesburg functions as the economic capital of South Africa and is home to the continent's largest stock exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Johannesburg was established in 1886, following the discovery of gold, on what was once farmland. Within a decade, the population surged to over 100,000, driven by the large gold deposits found along the Witwatersrand. Modern Johannesburg is an amalgamation of formerly separate cities, townships and settlements, reflecting apartheid-era spatial segregation policies. Soweto ("South-Western Townships"), designated a "blacks only" city until 1994, is one of the most historically significant areas for modern South Africa. Home to key anti-apartheid leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, it became the epicenter of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where student protests were met with brutal force. In contrast, Lenasia is predominantly populated by English-speaking Indo-South Africans (people of Indian and South Asian descent). Formerly "white-only" areas include Sandton, known as "Africa's richest square-mile", Randburg and Roodeport.