Johannesburg
Gauteng
The smallest province by area but the beating economic heart of Africa. Johannesburg gave birth to South Africa's modern identity — the gold rush, apartheid, the liberation struggle and the rainbow nation all played out in these streets. Soweto is the emotional core of the city, while Constitution Hill and the Apartheid Museum help explain the country's modern transformation. Pretoria and Tshwane add a different layer: jacaranda-lined avenues, diplomatic institutions and the architecture of state power. The Cradle of Humankind lies within day-trip distance, connecting urban South Africa to humanity's deepest origins.
The City of Gold never sleeps
Highlights
- •Soweto
- •Apartheid Museum
- •Maboneng
- •Cradle of Humankind
- •Constitution Hill
- •Sandton
- •Union Buildings
- •Pretoria jacarandas
Best Time to Visit
April to September (dry, clear skies, mild days)
Current Weather in Johannesburg
Temperature
24°C
Condition
Clear
Feels Like
24°C
Humidity
68%
Wind
1 km/h
Where to Eat in Gauteng
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History in Gauteng
PREHISTORIC
The Cradle of Humankind
The fossil-rich caves of Sterkfontein, near modern-day Johannesburg, preserve the bones of Australopithecus africanus — among the earliest known ancestors of humanity. More than 40% of all early human...
1886
Gold Discovered on the Witwatersrand
An Australian prospector, George Harrison, struck gold on a farm in the Transvaal. The reef he found turned out to be the largest gold deposit ever discovered — the Witwatersrand Goldfields. Within 10...
1899
The Anglo-Boer War
The bloodiest conflict in South Africa's history. Britain and the Boer Republics (Transvaal and the Orange Free State) fought a brutal three-year war for control of the goldfields. The British introdu...
1960
Sharpeville Massacre
On 21 March 1960, police opened fire on a peaceful crowd of approximately 5,000 Black South Africans who had gathered outside the Sharpeville police station to protest the pass laws. 69 people were ki...