​JOHANNESBURG, a city of the Transvaal and the centre ofthe Rand gold-mining industry. It is the most populous cityand the commercial capital of South Africa. It is built on thesouthern slopes of the Witwatersrand in 26° 11′ S. 28° 2′ E., atan elevation of 5764 ft. above the sea. The distances by railfrom Johannesburg to the following seaports are: LourençoMarques, 364 m.; Durban, 483 m.; East London, 659 m.; PortElizabeth, 714 m.; Cape Town, 957 m. Pretoria is, by rail, 46 m.N. by E.

The town lies immediately north of the central part of the maingold reef. The streets run in straight lines east and west ornorth and south. The chief open spaces are Market Square inthe west and Government Square in the south of the town.Park railway station lies north of the business quarter, andfarther north are the Wanderers’ athletic sports ground andJoubert’s Park. The chief business streets, such as CommissionerStreet, Market Street, President Street and PritchardStreet, run east and west. In these thoroughfares and inseveral of the streets which intersect them are the offices of themining companies, the banks, clubs, newspaper offices, hotelsand shops, the majority being handsome stone or brick buildings,while the survival of some wooden shanties and corrugated ironbuildings recalls the early character of the town.

Chief Buildings, &c.—In the centre of Market Square are themarket buildings, and at its east end the post and telegraphoffices, a handsome block of buildings with a façade 200 ft. longand a tower 106 ft. high. The square itself, a quarter of a milelong, is the largest in South Africa. The offices of the Witwatersrandchamber of mines face the market buildings. The stockexchange is in Marshall Square. The telephone exchange is inthe centre of the city, in Von Brandis Square. The law courtsare in the centre of Government Square. The Transvaaluniversity college is in Plein Square, a little south of Park station.In the vicinity is St Mary’s (Anglican) parish hall (1905–1907),the first portion of a large building planned to take the place of“Old” St Mary’s Church, the “mother” church of the Rand,built in 1887. The chief Jewish synagogue is in the same neighbourhood.In Kerk Street, on the outskirts of central Johannesburg,is the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception,the headquarters of the vicar apostolic of the Transvaal.North of Joubert’s Park is the general hospital, and beyond,near the crest of the hills, commanding the town and the roadto Pretoria, is a fort built by the Boer government and nowused as a gaol. On the hills, some 3 m. E.N.E. of the town, isthe observatory, built in 1903. Johannesburg has severaltheatres and buildings adapted for public meetings. There isa race-course 2 m. south of the town under the control of theJohannesburg Turf Club.

The Suburbs.—North, east and west of the city proper aresuburbs, laid out on the same rectangular plan. The mostfashionable are to the east and north—Jeppestown, Belgravia,Doornfontein, the Berea, Hillbrow, Parktown, Yeoville and Bellevue.Braamfontein (with a large cemetery) lies north-west andFordsburg due west of the city. At Fordsburg are the gas andelectric light and power works, and north of Doornfontein thereis a large reservoir. There are also on the Rand, and dependenton the gold-mining, three towns possessing separate municipalities—GermistonandBoksburg (q.v.), respectively 9 m. and 15 m.E. of Johannesburg, andKrugersdorp (q.v.), 21 m. W.

The Mines and other Industries.—South, east and west of thecity are the gold mines, indicated by tall chimneys, batteryhouses and the compounds of the labourers. The bare veldis dotted with these unsightly buildings for a distance of overfifty miles. The mines are worked on the most scientific lines.Characteristic of the Rand is the fine white dust arising from thecrushing of the ore, and, close to the batteries, the incessant dincaused by the stamps employed in that operation. The compoundsin general, especially those originally made for Chineselabourers, are well built, comfortable, and fulfil every hygienicrequirement. Besides the buildings, the compounds includewide stretches of veld. To enter and remain in the district,Kaffirs require a monthly pass for which the employer pays 2s.(For details of gold-mining, seeGold.) A railway traversesthe Rand, going westward past Krugersdorp to Klerksdorp andthence to Kimberley, and eastward past Springs to Delagoa Bay.From Springs, 25 m. E. of Johannesburg, is obtained much ofthe coal used in the Rand mines.

The mines within the municipal area produce nearly half thetotal gold output of the Transvaal. The other industries ofJohannesburg include brewing, printing and bookbinding,timber sawing, flour milling, iron and brass founding, brickmaking and the manufacture of tobacco.

Health, Education and Social Conditions.—The elevation ofJohannesburg makes it, despite its nearness to the tropics, ahealthy place for European habitation. Built on open undulatingground, the town is, however, subject to frequent duststorms and to considerable variations in the temperature. Thenights in winter are frosty and snow falls occasionally. Theaverage day temperature in winter is 53° F., in summer 75°;the average annual rainfall is 28 in. The death-rate among whiteinhabitants averages about 17 per thousand. The principalcauses of death, both among the white and coloured inhabitants,are diseases of the lungs—including miners’ phthisis and pneumonia—diarrhoea,dysentery and enteric. The death-rateamong young children is very high.

Education is provided in primary and secondary schoolsmaintained by the state. In the primary schools education is ​free but not compulsory. The Transvaal university college,founded in 1904 as the technical institute (the change of titlebeing made in 1906), provides full courses in science, mining,engineering and law. In 1906Alfred Beit (q.v.) bequeathed£200,000 towards the cost of erecting and equipping universitybuildings.

In its social life Johannesburg differs widely from Cape Townand Durban. The white population is not only far larger butmore cosmopolitan, less stationary and more dependent on asingle industry; it has few links with the past, and both city andcitizens bear the marks of youth. The cost of living is muchhigher than in London or New York. House rent, provisions,clothing, are all very dear, and more than counterbalance thelowness of rates. The customary unit of expenditure is thethreepenny-bit or “tickey.”

Sanitary and other Services.—There is an ample supply of waterto the town and mines, under a water board representing all theRand municipalities and the mining companies. A water-bornesewerage system began to be introduced in 1906. Thegeneral illuminant is electricity, and both electrical and gasservices are owned by the municipality. The tramway service,opened in 1891, was taken over by the municipality in 1904.Up to 1906 the trams were horse-drawn; in that year electriccars began running. Rickshaws are also a favourite means ofconveyance. The police force is controlled by the government.

Area, Government and Rateable Value.—The city proper coversabout 6 sq. m. The municipal boundary extends in everydirection some 5 m. from Market Square, encloses about 82 sq. m.and includes several of the largest mines. The local governmentis carried on by an elected municipal council, the franchisebeing restricted to white British subjects (men and women) whorent or own property of a certain value. In 1908 the rateablevalue of the municipality was £36,466,644, the rate 2⁠1/4⁠d. in the £,and the town debt £5,500,000.

Population.—In 1887 the population was about 3000. Bythe beginning of 1890 it had increased to over 25,000. A censustaken in July 1896 showed a population within a radius of3 m. from Market Square of 102,078, of whom 50,907 werewhites. At the census of April 1904 the inhabitants of the cityproper numbered 99,022, the population within the municipalarea being 155,642, of whom 83,363 were whites. Of the whiteinhabitants, 35% were of British origin, 51,629 were males,and 31,734 females. Of persons aged sixteen or over, the numberof males was almost double the number of females. The colouredpopulation included about 7000 British Indians—chiefly smalltraders. A municipal census taken in August 1908 gave thefollowing result: whites 95,162; natives and coloured 78,781;Asiatics 6780—total 180,687.

History.—Johannesburg owes its existence to the discoveryof gold in the Witwatersrand reefs. The town, named afterJohannes Rissik, then surveyor-general of the Transvaal, wasfounded in September 1886, the first buildings being erected onthe part of the reef where are now the Ferreira and Wemmermines. These buildings were found to cover valuable ore, andin December following the Boer government marked out the siteof the city proper, and possession of the plots was given to purchaserson the 1st of January 1887. The exploitation of themines led to a rapid development of the town during the nextthree years. The year 1890 was one of great depressionfollowing the exhaustion of the surface ore, but the provision ofbetter machinery and cheaper coal led to a revival in 1891. By1892 the leading mines had proved their dividend-earning capacity,and in 1895 there was a great “boom” in the shares of themining companies. The linking of the town to the seaports byrailways during 1892–1895 gave considerable impetus to the gold-miningindustry. Material prosperity was accompanied, however,by political, educational and other disadvantages, and thedesire of the Johannesburgers—most of whom were foreignersor “Uitlanders”—to remedy the grievances under which theysuffered led, in January 1896, to an abortive rising against theBoer government (seeTransvaal:History). One result of thismovement was a slight advance in municipal self-government.Since 1887 the management of the town had been entrusted toa nominated sanitary board, under the chairmanship of themining commissioner appointed by the South African Republic.In 1890 elected members had been admitted to this board, butat the end of 1897 an electivestadsraad (town council) wasconstituted, though its functions were strictly limited. Therewas a great development in the mining industry during 1897–1898and 1899, the value of the gold extracted in 1898exceeding £15,000,000, but the political situation grew worse,and in September 1899, owing to the imminence of war betweenthe Transvaal and Great Britain, the majority of the Uitlandersfled from the city. Between October 1899, when war broke out,and the 31st of May 1900, when the city was taken by the British,the Boer government worked certain mines for their own benefit.After a period of military administration and of government by anominated town council, an ordinance was passed in June 1903providing for elective municipal councils, and in Decemberfollowing the first election to the new council took place. In 1905the town was divided into wards. In that year the number ofmunicipal voters was 23,338. In 1909 the proportional representationsystem was adopted in the election of town councillors.

During 1901–1903, while the war was still in progress or butrecently concluded, the gold output was comparatively slight.The difficulty in obtaining sufficient labour for the mines led toa successful agitation for the importation of coolies from China(seeTransvaal:History). During 1904–1906 over 50,000coolies were brought to the mines, a greatly increased outputbeing the result, the value of the gold extracted in 1905 exceeding£20,000,000. Notwithstanding the increased production ofgold, Johannesburg during 1905–1907 passed through a periodof severe commercial depression, the result in part of the unsettledpolitical situation. In June 1907 the repatriation of theChinese coolies began; it was completed in February 1910.