Gauteng Province Information |
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Page 1 of 2  Johannesburg City and Hillbrow GAUTENG – Sotho word – means “PLACE OF GOLD”HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
History has been moulded for centuries by the very location of the province on the highland plateau of South Africa.  Jacaranda Trees in Pretoria Gauteng is to the north of South Africa, between the Provinces of Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu Natal.
Size – 18 810 sq kilometres. Population 8 020 million. 18% of the total population.
History starting with the Sterkfontein Caves where the presence of early humankind was discovered and dates back about 3.5 million years.
Evidence of iron age smelters on the Mellville Koppies and San rock engravings in the Magaliesberg estimates at about 25 000 years ago.
Prior to the arrival of the trekkers/settlers, meetings have been recorded by missionaries and ivory hunters in the Magaliesberg.
Later came the wagon routes, the railway lines and the roads.
With the discovery of gold in 1886 on the Witwatersrand, the town of Johannesburg was established and a new form of migration appeared.
Mineworkers from all over the world arrived, setting up their trades, artisans, craftsmen and miners.
Pretoria was founded in 1855, a modern city built on the wealth of the Cullinan Diamond Mines.
The Anglo Boer War started in 1899 to 1902. This was to take over the Transvaal, mainly for the rich gold and diamond fields.
In June 1955 the ANC’s Freedom Charter was signed in Kliptown Johannesburg.
Milestones during this periods was the Rivonia Trial, the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and others on Robben Island and the Sharpeville Massacre.
In 1976 the student uprising in Soweto marks the beginning of the end of apartheid.
Gauteng was at the very cutting edge of the revolution against apartheid.
It is appropriate that when peace came to the country that the new constitution was drafted and signed in Gauteng and where the new President was inaugurated.
The Province of Gauteng today reflects the new South African order and society of which we are just proud.
 Constitution Hill
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