Egoli: The place of gold and the rise of Johannesburg

The other name for Johannesburg is Egoli, meaning the place of Gold

There was even a South African Television soap drama which was called ‘Egoli – The place of Gold,’ aired across the continent in the 1990s and early 2000s.

But back to reality, Johannesburg Was Born from Gold but Refused to Die with Gold! 

Everyone thought that when the gold ran out, Johannesburg would become a ghost town. 

It didn’t.  

And here now is the fascinating story of Johannesburg. 

Way back in the 1880s, someone found gold on a piece of land called the Witwatersrand.

Suddenly old farms turned into a wild tent city packed with people flocking onto the pitch hoping to get rich.

That was the start of Johannesburg. 

But here’s the crazy part, the gold didn’t last forever. It wouldn’t.

And yet, Johannesburg, the bustling city in South Africa’s Gauteng Province, is still standing, bigger and busier than ever. 

How did that happen? 

That’s the story told in the paper titled, “The Power of Mining: The Fall of Gold and Rise of Johannesburg.”

First, you need to know that this wasn’t an easy gold.

It wasn’t lying around in rivers. It was buried deep, very deep underground. So, treasure seekers couldn’t just dig with a shovel. 

You needed huge machines, lots of money, and big companies to run the show.

Within a decade, this place was the biggest gold producer in the entire world.

But here’s the interesting bit: to get all that gold out, the mines needed workers.

Lots of them. 

So, they brought in men from all over the place ….

Not just from across South Africa, but from countries like Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Malawi.

These guys left their families behind, worked hard for months, and sent money back home to their countries, towns and villages.

This created a huge web of connections across the Southern Africa region which now comprise SADC.

For over a hundred years, the economies of these neighbouring countries were tied to the mines in Jo’burg. 

If Joburg sneezed, the whole region caught a cold!

Now, everyone thought that when the gold ran out, Jo’burg would become a ghost town. A dusty, empty place with nobody left. But the city had a secret weapon.

It learned to do other things.

You see…

Mining needed steel, so they built steel factories. 

Mining needed electricity, so they built power stations. 

Mining needed money and banking, so they set up banks and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. 

Mining companies started investing in cement, paper, and chemicals. Before anyone knew it, the city had become a giant workshop. 

By the time World War II ended, making things in factories was almost as important as digging up gold.

However, it was a matter of time

By the 1970s, gold production had hit its peak and started sliding downhill. The mines got deeper, more expensive, and less profitable.

Eventually, the big mines right under Jo’burg closed down completely. But did the city panic? 

Nope. 

By then, it had already reinvented itself.

Manufacturing took the lead, and then, even bigger things came along: finance, banking, insurance, and business services. 

The city’s shape changed too. Old mining land got turned into new homes, shops, and offices. People from all over Africa kept pouring in, making the city even more vibrant and mixed. The money that had once come from gold now came from banks and offices. 

The city had completely changed its diet!

Egoli: But where did the name Johannesburg come from?

It is believed that the name could have been derived from some people with the name “Johannes” who were involved in the early history of the city.

There was Johannes Joubert, the principal clerk attached to the office of the surveyor-general Hendrik Dercksen, who was a member of the Volksraad and was the Republic’s chief of mining.

There was also Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger the president of the South African Republic (ZAR) from 1883 to 1900.

We also have Johannes Meyer, the first government official in the area.

On the other hand, Johannes Rissik and Johannes Joubert who were members of a delegation sent to England to obtain mining rights for the area can also be mentioned.

Joubert had a park in the city named after him, and Rissik has his name for one of the main streets.

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Additional input for this article was taken from

Harrison, P. and Zack, T., 2012. The power of mining: the fall of gold and rise of Johannesburg. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 30(4), pp.551–570.