Gauteng

Gauteng, meaning Place of Gold, is the economic powerhouse of South Africa and the business centre of Africa’s largest economy. When the province first came into being, on the break-up of the old Transvaal, it was known as the PWV – Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging – or the Vaal Triangle.

Pretoria, now the capital of South Africa and with 2.4 million inhabitants, was a long-established centre in a river valley originally settled by the Southern Transvaal Ndebele in about 1600. The formal settlement that was to become the city was founded by the Voortrekker leader Marthinus Pretorius and named after his father Andries, hero of the Battle of Blood River. It was declared capital of the Boer Republic on 1 May 1860, the date which marked the end of the trekking. The Transvaal Boers had at last put down some permanent roots in what would become the Transvaal.

Although a younger city, Johannesburg, 60km down the road, grew up from a mining camp on the banks of the White Waters stream - hence the name Witwatersrand. Until 1886 when gold was discovered, the only residents of the region were Sotho-Tswanas who had been living in these parts, unaware of what they were standing on, for a couple of hundred years. 120 years after discovery of gold, with all the drinking, brawling, fighting and shooting at an end, we are left with a city of 10 million people. It is the world’s largest city not situated on a lake, coast or river and the world’s biggest arboretum with over 10 million trees.

Vereeniging, with only 400 000 people, is a peaceful spot in the loop of the Vaal River in the South of Gauteng. The name means Union and it was here that the Treaty was signed which brought about the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War. It may be a small place compared with its neighbours but, without the signing of that treaty, Johannesburg and Pretoria probably still wouldn’t be talking to each other.