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The city of Johannesburg is a bustling hive of activity and is unquestionably the unofficial commercial capital of South Africa. It is in fact the "official" capital of one of South Africa's nine provinces, Gauteng.
Johannesburg became a city in 1928, but it had been set up as a town as early as 1886 when 980 stands on land, previously owned by the South African government was auctioned off. The land had been a farm that was called Randjeslaagte. This new, prospective town was called Johannesburg - named after two commissioners, Johannes Rissik and Christaan Johannes Joubert, who had confirmed the discovery of gold in the area by George Harrison.
Till the present day, Johannesburg remembers these people in history in the form of street names and parks. Rissik, Harrison and Commissioner streets are three of the busiest streets in Johannesburg, and Joubert Park is an area on the outskirts of the immediate city centre.
The Kimberley diamond rush had already happened, and when the diamond prospectors got wind of the discovery of gold in the Johannesburg area, they arrived in the new settlement in droves. Shops and houses made from corrugated iron were erected almost overnight as people arrived to start digging for gold, or to trade in shops.
In history, entertainment was lively with hundreds of pubs, shops and canteens opening up all the time.
The government was particularly alarmed at the bad influence some of these establishments would have, and to counteract this, offered free stands to churche groups.
Initially Joubert Park (named after commissioner, Christiaan Johannes Joubert) was laid out as an upmarket recreation area. Years later, Joubert Park would be the home of the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Today, Joubert Park is unfortunately, a seedy and run-down suburb of Johannesburg.
Within three years, Johannesburg became the largest town in Southern Africa. Over 630 000 ounces of gold had been mined by the end of 1889 and business in Johannesburg was booming to such an extent that a stock exchange (now one of the ten largest in the world) was founded.
Johannesburg experienced its first strike of mine workers on 7 September 1889 as the workers fought for less working hours and more pay.
The supply of water was a major headache - a private company sold water to residents but could not keep up with the demand. The first railway line was actually a tramline and ran all the way from Johannesburg to the little town of Springs, east of Johannesburg and about 45 kilometres away.
Since then Johannesburg has grown with leaps and bounds and is still as busy and as exciting as ever - maybe not as glamorous as New York, or as elegant as London - but it has a charm all of its own.
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