Johannesburg

=== Gold rush and naming of the city ===
{{main|Witwatersrand Gold Rush}}
[[File:langlaagte.jpg|thumb|left|The Langlaagte farm near [[Paarlshoop]], on the [[Witwatersrand]] – site of the first discovery of gold in 1886.]]
[[File:Ferreira's Gold Mine in 1886.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ferreirasdorp]] gold mine in 1886, the oldest part of Johannesburg<ref name="Yap1996">{{cite book |author=Melanie Yap |title=Colour, Confusion and Concessions: The History of the Chinese in South Africa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ca9nqe6PRoC&pg=PA84 |access-date=2013-05-07 |year=1996 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-962-209-424-6 |page=84}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Chinatown Precinct Plan |url=http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/2011/inner_city/chinatown_precinct_plan2009.pdf |publisher=City of Johannesburg |access-date=10 May 2013 |quote=The oldest part of Johannesburg was first known as Ferreira's Camp and later Ferreiradorp. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063523/http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/2011/inner_city/chinatown_precinct_plan2009.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref> and where the first gold diggers initially settled.<ref name=westgate>{{cite web |title=Westgate Station Precinct Spatial Development Framework and Implementation Plan |url=http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/2011/inner_city/westgate/sdf_plan_analysis_heritage_assets.pdf |publisher=City of Johannesburg (Archive) |access-date=7 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185711/http://www.joburg-archive.co.za/2011/inner_city/westgate/sdf_plan_analysis_heritage_assets.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref>]]

The main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by [[Jan Gerritse Bantjes (son)|Jan Gerritse Bantjes]], son of [[Jan Bantjes]], this triggered the [[Witwatersrand Gold Rush]] and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold rapidly attracted people to the area, making necessary a name and governmental organisation for the area. Jan, Johan and Johannes were common male names among the Dutch of that time; two men involved in surveying the area for the best location of the city, Christian Johannes Joubert and Johann Rissik, are considered the source of the name by some. Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area is another possibility. Precise records for the choice of name were lost.<ref name=Joburg>{{cite web |url=http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&id=275&Itemid=51 |title=How was Johannesburg named? |publisher=Official Website of the City of Johannesburg |year=2015 |access-date=17 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417124059/http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&id=275&Itemid=51 |archive-date=17 April 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Within ten years, the city of Johannesburg included 100,000 people.<ref name="ReidLane2004"/>

In September 1884, the Struben brothers discovered the Confidence Reef on the farm Wilgespruit near present-day Roodepoort, which further boosted excitement over gold prospects.<ref name="DGJ01">{{Cite book |title=A Concise Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg |last1=Musiker |first1=Naomi |last2=Musiker |first2=Reuben |publisher=Francolin |year=2000 |isbn=978-1868590711 |location=Cape Town}}</ref>{{rp|254}} The first gold to be crushed on the Witwatersrand was the gold-bearing rock from the Bantjes mine crushed using the Struben brothers stamp machine. News of the discovery soon reached Kimberley and directors Cecil Rhodes and Sir Joseph Robinson rode up to investigate the rumours for themselves. They were guided to the Bantjes camp with its tents strung out over several kilometres and stayed with Bantjes for two nights.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}}

In 1884, they purchased the first pure refined gold from Bantjes for £3,000. Incidentally, Bantjes had from 1881 been operating the Kromdraai Gold Mine in the Cradle of Humankind together with his partner Johannes Stephanus Minnaar where they first discovered gold in 1881, and which also offered another kind of discovery—the early ancestors of all mankind.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} Some report Australian George Harrison as the first to make a claim for gold in the area that became Johannesburg, as he found gold on a farm in July 1886. He did not remain in the area.<ref name="George Harrison">{{cite web |url=http://www.travelhouseuk.co.uk/news/travel-insight/johannesburg-the-city-built-on-gold.htm |title=Johannesburg: The City Built on Gold |author=Victor Hunt |publisher=Travelhouse UK |date=7 December 2013 |access-date=16 September 2014 |archive-date=14 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914050649/http://www.travelhouseuk.co.uk/news/travel-insight/johannesburg-the-city-built-on-gold.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Gold was earlier discovered some {{convert|400|km|0|abbr=off}} to the east of present-day Johannesburg in [[Barberton, South Africa|Barberton]]. [[Prospecting|Gold prospectors]] soon discovered the richer gold reefs of the [[Witwatersrand]] offered by Bantjes. The original miners' camp, under the informal leadership of Col [[Ignatius Ferreira]], was located in the Fordsburg dip, possibly because water was available there, and because of the site's proximity to the diggings. Following the establishment of Johannesburg, the area was taken over by the Transvaal government who had it surveyed and named it Ferreira's Township, today the suburb of [[Ferreirasdorp]]. The first settlement at Ferreira's Camp was established as a tented camp and which soon reached a population of 3,000 by 1887.<ref name="ReidLane2004">{{cite book |author1=Andrew M. Reid |author2=Paul J. Lane |title=African Historical Archaeologies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3PUSDyy4vQC&pg=PA347 |access-date=7 May 2013 |year=2004 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-47996-0 |page=347 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902010158/https://books.google.com/books?id=T3PUSDyy4vQC&pg=PA347 |url-status=live }}</ref> The government took over the camp, surveyed it and named it Ferreira's Township.<ref name="Leyds1964">{{cite book |author=Gerald Anton Leyds |title=A History of Johannesburg: The Early Years |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mukQAQAAIAAJ |access-date=7 May 2013 |year=1964 |publisher=Nasionale Boekhandel Beperk |pages=(from snippet view) |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902010207/https://books.google.com/books?id=mukQAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1896, Johannesburg was established as a city of over 100,000 inhabitants, one of the fastest growth cities ever.<ref name="ReidLane2004"/>

Mines near Johannesburg are among the deepest in the world, with some as deep as {{Convert|4000|m}}.<ref>{{cite book |author=Geological Society of London |title=Mineral Deposits and Earth Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7wW-y9jT3NMC&q=golden+arc+welkom&pg=PA31 |year=2005 |publisher=Geological Society of London |page=31 |isbn=9781862391826 |access-date=18 October 2020 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902010209/https://books.google.com/books?id=7wW-y9jT3NMC&q=golden+arc+welkom&pg=PA31 |url-status=live }}</ref>