Johannesburg

=== Post-Union history ===
[[File:Johannesburg-c1910.jpg|thumb|Pritchard Street c. 1910]]
In 1917, Johannesburg became the headquarters of the [[Anglo American plc|Anglo-American Corporation]] founded by [[Ernest Oppenheimer]] which ultimately became one of the world's largest corporations, dominating both gold-mining and diamond-mining in South Africa. Major building developments took place in the 1930s, after South Africa went off the gold standard.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}} In the late 1940s and early 1950s, [[Hillbrow]] went high-rise. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the apartheid government constructed the massive agglomeration of townships that became known as [[Soweto]]. New freeways encouraged massive sub[[urban sprawl]] to the north of the city.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}} In the late 1960s and early 1970s, tower blocks (including the [[Carlton Centre]] and the [[Southern Life Centre]]) filled the skyline of the central business district.

Under the system of ''apartheid'' (Afrikaans for "apartness", or "separate development" although the system was founded by the British), a comprehensive system of racial separation was imposed upon South Africa starting in 1948. For its growth, the economy of Johannesburg depended upon hundreds of thousands of skilled white workers imported from Europe and semi- and un-skilled black workers imported from other parts of Southern Africa. Though they worked together they were forced by the government to live separately. Work was considered to be an exception to ''apartheid'' in order to keep Johannesburg functioning as South Africa's economic capital.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 86">Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 86.</ref>
[[File:Stuttafords_Johannesburg_1957.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Stuttafords]] department stores in Johannesburg in 1957]]

In the 1950s, the government began a policy of building townships for black families (prior to this unskilled workers were asked to work on "single status" in male-only hostels at the mines and had to commute to see their families in whatever province they originated) outside of Johannesburg to provide workers for Johannesburg.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 86"/> [[Soweto]], a township founded for black workers coming to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg, was intended to house 50,000 people, but soon was the home of ten times that number as thousands of unemployed rural blacks came to Johannesburg for employment and an income to send back to their villages.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 92">Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 92.</ref> It was estimated that in 1989, the population of Soweto was equal to that of Johannesburg, if not greater.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 92"/>

In March 1960, Johannesburg witnessed widespread demonstrations against ''apartheid'' in response to the [[Sharpeville massacre]].<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 80">Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 80.</ref> On 11 July 1963, the [[South African Police]] raided a house in the Johannesburg suburb of [[Rivonia]] where nine members of the banned [[African National Congress]] (ANC) were arrested on charges of planning sabotage. Their arrest led to the famous [[Rivonia Trial]].<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 92"/> The nine arrested included one Indo-South African, one coloured, two whites and five blacks, one of whom was the future president [[Nelson Mandela]].<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 91">Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 91.</ref> At their trial, the accused freely admitted that they were guilty of what they were charged with, namely of planning to blow up the hydro-electric system of Johannesburg to shut down the gold mines, but Mandela argued to the court that the ANC had tried non-violent resistance to ''apartheid'' and failed, leaving him with no other choice.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 91"/> The trial made Mandela into a national figure and a symbol of resistance to ''apartheid''.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 91"/>
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Straatbeeld in Johannesburg TMnr 10004282.jpg|thumb|Street scene in Johannesburg in 1970]]

On 16 June 1976, demonstrations broke out in Soweto over a government decree that black school-children be educated in Afrikaans instead of English, and after the police fired on the demonstrations, rioting against ''apartheid'' began in Soweto and spread into the greater Johannesburg area.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 93.</ref> About 575 people, the majority of whom were black, were killed in the [[Soweto uprising]] of 1976.<ref name="Brogan, Patrick page 80"/> Between 1984 and 1986, South Africa was in turmoil as a series of nationwide protests, strikes and riots took place against ''apartheid'', and the black townships around Johannesburg were scenes of some of the fiercest struggles between the police and anti-''apartheid'' demonstrators.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''The fighting never stopped: a comprehensive guide to world conflicts since 1945'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 page 100.</ref>

The central area of the city underwent something of a decline in the 1980s and 1990s, due to the high crime rate and when property speculators directed large amounts of capital into suburban shopping malls, decentralised office parks, and entertainment centres. [[Sandton City]] was opened in 1973, followed by Rosebank Mall in 1976, and [[Eastgate Shopping Centre, Johannesburg|Eastgate]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amethyst.co.za/JhbGuide/Johannesburg.htm |title=History of Johannesburg |publisher=Amethyst.co.za |date=5 April 2003 |access-date=2 July 2010 |archive-date=14 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614225343/http://www.amethyst.co.za/JhbGuide/Johannesburg.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the 1990s, the city faced rapid growth of crime throughout large parts of the city. Some areas of skyscrapers were abandoned, many residents left their homes, and businesses moved out. Some historical buildings in central areas were destroyed by fires that spread relentlessly.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Guardian Staff |date=1999-05-30 |title=Johannesburg, the most dangerous city on earth? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/may/30/southafrica1 |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=22 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022032433/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/may/30/southafrica1 |url-status=live }}</ref>