Johannesburg , also known as eGoli (place of gold), is the largest and most populous city in South Africa. The city is affectionately known as "Jo'burg", "Jozi" and "JHB" by South Africans. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng , the wealthiest province in South Africa, and which has the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa. The city is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and Africa's only officially designated global city (classified as a gamma world city). While often assumed to be South Africa's capital, Johannesburg does not form one of South Africa's three capital cities. Johannesburg does, however, house the South African Constitutional Court - South Africa's highest court.

Johannesburg is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond trade , due to its location on the mineral -rich Witwatersrand range of hills. Johannesburg is also served by O.R. Tambo International Airport , the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa.

According to the 2001 Census , the population of the city is more than three million. Johannesburg's land area of 1,644 km² is very large when compared to other cities, resulting in a population density of only 1,962/km². The population of the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area is almost eight million. Johannesburg also encompasses Soweto to the south west, a township that the apartheid government established to accommodate the large number of migrant workers.

History:
The region surrounding Johannesburg was inhabited by small numbers of Bushmen and the Bantu people. When Europeans arrived in the area, small numbers of Boers and British started farms, but there was no major European settlement until the 1880s, when gold was discovered in the region, triggering a gold rush.

Gold was initially discovered to the east of present-day Johannesburg, in Barberton. Gold prospectors soon discovered that there were even richer gold reefs in the Witwatersrand . Gold was discovered at Langlaagte, Johannesburg in 1886.

Johannesburg was initially a suburb of Pretoria as one had to get permission from the government in Pretoria to build a house in Johannesburg. The town was much the same as any small prospecting settlement, but, as word spread, people flocked to the area from all other regions of the country, as well as from North America, the United Kingdom, and the rest of Europe. As the value of control of the land increased, tensions developed between the Boer government in Pretoria and the British, culminating in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Boers lost the war and control of the area was ceded to the British. The surveyor general, Johannes Rissik, named the city after himself.

The 1910 declaration of the Union of South Africa paved the way for a more organised mining structure. Later, the South African government instituted a harsh racial system whereby blacks and Indians were heavily taxed, barred from holding skilled jobs, and consequently forced to work as migrant labour on Johannesburg's growing crop of gold mines.

The South African government then instituted a system of forced removals, moving the population of non-European descent into specified areas. It is this system that created the sprawling shantytown of Soweto ( So uth We stern To wnships), one of the areas where blacks were forced to live during the apartheid era. Nelson Mandela spent many years living in Soweto and his Soweto home in Orlando is currently a major tourist attraction.

Large-scale violence broke out in 1976 when the Soweto Students' Representative Council organised protests against the use of Afrikaans, considered to be the language of the oppressors, as the primary language of instruction in black schools. Police shot into a peaceful student march in Soweto. 1000 people died protesting the apartheid system, in the following 12 months. One of the most famous victims of the massacre, Hector Pieterson, is commemorated with a large Museum dedicated to his memory, in Soweto.

The regulations of apartheid were abandoned in February 1990, and, since the 1994 elections, Johannesburg has been free of discriminatory laws. The black townships have been integrated into the municipal government system, and, to some extent, the suburbs have become multiracial. However, there has been a large-scale migration of businesses and commerce away from the Central Business District and the southern suburbs, in favour of the more affluent northern suburbs. This was fueled by a rise in the crime rate, serious traffic congestion, inadequate public transport, and a more favourable tax environment for landlords in the northern suburbs prior to the integration of the city. Currently the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council is implementing a large scale Inner City Revival project, leading to many business moving back to the inner city.

Geography and Climate:
Johannesburg is located in the eastern plateau area of South Africa, known as the Highveld, at an elevation of 1753 metres. The city is located on a small ridge called the Witwatersrand (White Water's Ridge: Afrikaans) and the city's northern and western suburbs have undulating hills, while the eastern metro area is generally flat.

The city enjoys a dry, sunny climate, with the exception of occasional late afternoon downpours in the summer months of October to April. Temperatures in Johannesburg are usually fairly mild thanks to the city's high altitude, with the average maximum daytime temperature in January of 26ºC, dropping to an average maximum of around 16°C in June. During the winter, the temperature occasionally drops to below freezing at nightime, causing frost. Snow is a rare occurrence, with snowfall having been experienced in September 1981 and light snow in August 2006. The annual average rainfall is 713mm, which is mostly concentrated in the summer months.

Despite the relatively dry climate, Johannesburg has about six million trees, and it is often claimed that the city has the largest man-made (non-commercial) forest in the world. Many trees were originally planted in the northern areas of the city at the end of the 19th century, to provide wood for the mining industry. The areas were developed by a German immigrant, who called the forest estates Sachsenwald. The name was changed to Saxonwold, now the name of a suburb, during World War I. White residents who moved into the areas, now generally referred to as the Northern Suburbs, retained many of the original trees and planted new ones, with the encouragement of successive city councils. In recent years, however, a considerable number of trees have been felled, to make way for the Northern Suburbs' speedy residential and commercial redevelopment. The city is, therefore, at risk of losing its forest coverage within a few decades.