History of Johannesburg Trivia Quiz

Answer: San

The San were hunters and gathers who first settled where Johannesburg now is over a millennium ago. Not many sites remain in Johannesburg dating back to this time period other than some stone walls in some parts of the Transvaal outside of Jo'burg. It is believed that the San were either defeated by or forced out of the area by Bantu people sometime in the 13th century.

Answer: George Harrison

George Harrison discovered gold on Langlaagte farm in 1886. The farm was owned by G.C. Oosthuizen but he allowed Harrison and his partner to have digging rights. By later that year, gold mining was in full swing on Langlaagte and on many other nearby farms. Europeans who settled in the area prior to the discovery of gold were given 3,000 acres of land to farm. The discovery of gold was a strong economic windfall for the settlers.

The discovery of gold at Langlaagte was not the first find in the area but it was the most important as it generated enthusiasm and people started flocking to the area.

Answer: Ferreirasdorp

Ferreirasdorp is also called Ferreira's Camp. It is named after Ignatius Ferreirs who was one the first people to lead a group of miners in the area. The town, and thus Johannesburg, was originally just a settlement of tents. Cecil B. Rhodes was the person who bought the first gold from prospectors when he visited Ferreiera's Camp.

The sudden influx of settlers from Europe and western Africa caused Johannesburg to become the largest city in South Africa within a decade of its founding. The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was the largest gold rush in history.

Answer: British workers in the Transvaal Republic

Uitlanders were originally British miners during the Witwatersrand Gold Rush but the term quickly became used to describe Britons working in the newly formed Transvaal Republic. The Uitlanders had few rights and were annoyed with the lack support they were getting from the government in the Transvaal. Cecil B. Rhodes, who was Prime Minister of Cape Colony, a British controlled territory in what is now Western South Africa, encouraged a rebellion of the uitlanders led by Leander Starr Jameson. It was called the Jameson Raid but it failed spectacularly.

The failure of the Jameson Raid in 1896 led to the Second Boer War which resulted in British control over Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

Answer: Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi had originally come to what is now South Africa in 1893 to represent Indians in court in the city of Pretoria. By 1910, he had opened a legal firm in Johannesburg to represent the rights of Indian merchants living in the area. Indians living in Johannesburg had significantly fewer rights than the British citizens living there at the time.

In 1913, Gandhi led a march of thousands of people, an event got him arrested but did lead to the passage of the Indian Relief Act of 1914. That law abolished a tax on indentured workers and also permitted the practice of some Indian customs, including Indian marriages.

Answer: White gold miners

The price of gold fell after the end of World War I and by the early 1920s, South African gold companies were in serious economic decline. Corporations decided to cut wages and lay off white workers in exchange for black workers (who could be paid a lot less), causing the miners to strike. Because the government led by Jan Smuts took the side of the gold companies, the strike quickly turned into a rebellion against the government as well. The miners were joined in their efforts by communists. The Rand Rebellion also sparked racial tensions as white began attacking blacks who were taking their jobs.

Smuts was able to use the military to stop the rebellion but it hurt his popularity and he failed to be re-elected in 1924.

Answer: Provided hospitals and medical centers for British troops

Primarily, Johannesburg housed injured British soldiers and those affected by disease. Johannesburg was located far away from the action of the war, even the part of the war that was fought in Africa. This made it a good place for military hospitals as it would be safe and far away from fighting and action. British soldiers fighting in North Africa and the Middle East were brought to Johannesburg for recovery. Toward the end of the war, the most frequent patients were soldiers who had contracted tuberculosis in Burma.

Answer: Soweto

The forced evacuation of many black citizens from their homes in Johannesburg and other cities during the 1950s marked the beginning of the nationwide apartheid era in South Africa. Blacks were resettled in townships, which were little more than shanty towns. The most famous township was Soweto, which is an abbreviation for Southwest Township.

Although Soweto was once considered its own entity, today it is incorporated into the city of Johannesburg proper.

Answer: Afrikaans being the main language in schools

The main cause of the Soweto Uprising was the introduction of Afrikaans into the school districts and the decree that the language be the main one used to teach classes. Many black South Africans did not speak the language. They primarily spoke Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho or other local languages.

The uprising was led primarily by high school students. The rebellion was put down by the police, who resorted to brutal tactics to stop it. Officially, almost 200 people were killed but present day estimates are as high as 700. The most famous victim was Hector Pieterson, a twelve year old boy. A photograph of Pieterson's dead body being carried through the streets by Mbuyisa Makhubo became famous and led to the South African government being condemned internationally.

Today in South Africa, June 16 is Youth Day to mark the Soweto Uprising.

Answer: College tuition

The #FeesMustFall Protest began in Johannesburg at the University of Witwatersrand in October 2015 after the university declared the following year's tuition would increase over ten percent. Student protesters took to Twitter and other social media platforms to voice their discontent. Soon, students at other South African universities began to protest.

The results were mostly good for the students. The South African government announced that universities could not raise tuition costs the following year and then capped any further increases at 8% with the individual universities getting to determine the increase.