Soweto, South Africa
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Orlando Towers in the Orlando suburb of Soweto
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 Soweto
Soweto
Soweto
Soweto shown within Gauteng
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Location within Greater Johannesburg
Soweto
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| Coordinates: 26°15′58″S 27°51′57″E / 26.26611°S 27.86583°ECoordinates: 26°15′58″S 27°51′57″E / 26.26611°S 27.86583°E | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Gauteng |
| Municipality | City of Johannesburg |
| Established | 1963 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 200.03 km2 (77.23 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,600 m (5,200 ft) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 1,271,628 |
| • Density | 6,400/km2 (16,000/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 98.5% |
| • Coloured | 1.0% |
| • Indian/Asian | 0.1% |
| • White | 0.1% |
| • Other | 0.2% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Zulu | 37.1% |
| • Sotho | 15.5% |
| • Tswana | 12.9% |
| • Tsonga | 8.9% |
| • Other | 25.7% |
| Postal code (street) | 4309 |
| Website | www.Soweto.gov.za |
Soweto (/səˈwɛtoʊ, -ˈweɪ-, -ˈwiː-/) is a township of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Suburbs of Johannesburg.
George Harrison is today credited as the man who discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in February 1886. The fledgling town of Johannesburg was laid out on a triangular wedge of "uitvalgrond" (area excluded when the farms were surveyed) named Randjeslaagte, situated between the farms Doornfontein to the east, Braamfontein to the west and Turffontein to the south. Within ten years of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg, 100,000 people flocked to this part of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic in search of riches. They were of all races and all nationalities. In October 1887 the government of the ZAR bought the south-eastern portion of the farm Braamfontein. There were large quantities of clay, suitable for brickmaking, along the stream. The government decided that more money was to be made from issuing brick maker's licences at five shillings per month. The result was that many landless Dutch-speaking burghers (citizens) of the ZAR settled on the property and started making bricks. They also erected their shacks there. Soon the area was known either Brickfields or Veldschoendorp. Soon other working poor, Coloureds, Indians and Africans also settled there. The government, who sought to differentiate the white working class from the black, laid out new suburbs for the Burghers (Whites), Coolies (Indians), Malays (Coloureds) and Kaffirs (Africans), but the whole area simply stayed multiracial.
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