Timeline of Johannesburg

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province in South Africa.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

19th century

• 1886 – Johannesburg township established by Boer government after discovery of gold in vicinity. ^{[1] [2]}
• 1887
  • The Star newspaper in publication. ^[3]
  • St. Mary's Church built. ^[4]
  • Johannesburg Stock Exchange founded. ^[5]
  • Theatre Royal opens. ^[6]
• 1888 – St Mary's School was founded.
• 1890
  • Library opens. ^[7]
  • Jeppe High School for Boys was founded.
• 1891
  • Horse-drawn tram begins operating. ^[4]
  • Standard Theatre opens. ^[6]
• 1892 – Prison built.
• 1895 – Railway in operation. ^[4]
• 1896
  • January: Uprising against Boer government. ^[4]
  • 19 February: Braamfontein Explosion.
• 1897
  • Johannesburg Park station opens.
  • Johan Zulch de Villiers becomes the first mayor.
• 1898 – St John's College was founded.
• 1899 – Fort built.
• 1900 – 31 May: Town captured by British forces during the Second Boer War. ^{[1] [4]}

20th century

1900s–1950s

• 1902
  • King Edward VII School was founded.
  • St. Andrew's School for Girls was founded.
• 1903
  • Johannesburg Stock Exchange building constructed. ^[2]
  • Observatory built near town. ^[4]
  • Sophiatown developed. ^[8]
  • Roedean School for Girls was founded.
• 1904
  • Johannesburg Zoo and Transvaal Technical Institute established. ^[4]
  • April: Brickfields burned.
  • Drill Hall built.
  • Population: 99,022. [4]
• 1905
  • Town administrative wards created. ^[4]
  • Johannesburg Statistics begins publication. ^[4]
  • Alexandra developed near Johannesburg. ^[9]
• 1906
  • Electric trams begin operating. ^[4]
  • Sunday Times newspaper begins publication.
  • Meeting of the Municipal Associations of South Africa held in Johannesburg.
• 1907 – Redhill School was founded.
• 1908 – Population: 180,687. ^[4]
• 1919 – Jeppe High School for Girls was founded.
• 1920 – Parktown Boys' High School was founded.
• 1921 – Helpmekaar Kollege was founded.
• 1922
  • University of the Witwatersrand incorporated.
  • January–March: Miner's strike. ^[10]
• 1923 – Parktown High School for Girls was founded.
• 1925 – Technikon Witwatersrand established.
• 1927 – Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra founded. ^[11]
• 1928
  • Johannesburg gains city status. ^[1]
  • Ellis Park Stadium was opened.
• 1929 – South African Institute of Race Relations headquartered in city.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1931 – Airport opens in Germiston.
• 1933 – Kingsmead College was founded.
• 1935 – Johannesburg City Library building opens. ^[7]
• 1936 – 15 September: The Empire Exhibition, South Africa World's Fair opens ^[12]
• 1937 – 15 January: The Empire Exhibition, South Africa closes.
• 1941 – St David's Marist, Inanda was founded.
• 1942 – Springbok Legion's  [ fr ]Fighting Talk begins publication. ^[13]
• 1944 – Hoërskool Florida was founded.
• 1946 – Population: 603,470 city; 762,910 urban agglomeration. ^[14]
• 1948 – Polly Street Centre founded. ^[15]
• 1950 – Springbok Radio begins broadcasting.
• 1951
  • Drum magazine begins publication. ^[15]
  • Population: 631,911 city; 884,007 urban agglomeration. ^[14]
  • Waverley High School for Girls was founded.
• 1952 – Jan Smuts Airport established in Kempton Park.
• 1953 – St Stithians College was founded.
• 1956
  • December: Treason Trial begins.
  • Purple Renoster literary magazine begins publication. ^[16]
• 1957 – 1957 Alexandra bus boycott. ^[17]
• 1958 – St Benedict's College was founded.

1960s–1990s

• 1960
  • 21 March: Sharpeville massacre.
  • Johannesburg Planetarium opens.
• 1961
  • City becomes part of the Republic of South Africa.
  • Greenside High School was founded.
• 1962 – Sentech Tower built.
• 1963
  • 11 July: The arrest of Umkhonto we Sizwe high commanders known as Rivonia Trialist.
  • 11 August: Four of the defendants who had been arrested on July 11, at the Liliesleaf Farm near Johannesburg, were able to escape their South African jail after a bribe was promised to their guard by the ANC. ^{[18] [19]}
  • Classic magazine begins publication.
• 1964
  • July: The arrest of Umkhonto we Sizwe high commanders known as Little Rivonia Trialist.
  • Johannesburg Botanical Garden established.
• 1966 – Rand Afrikaans University founded. ^[20]
• 1968 – Bryanston High School was founded.
• 1969
  • Hyde Park Corner (shopping centre) in business.
  • Northcliff High School was founded.
• 1970
  • Tollman Towers and Trust Bank Building constructed.
  • Population: 654,682 city; 1,432,643 urban agglomeration. ^[21]
• 1971 – Hillbrow Tower built.
• 1973 – Marble Towers, Carlton Centre, and Sandton City shopping centre built.
• 1974 – Beeld newspaper begins publication.
• 1975 – Ponte City Apartments built. ^[22]
• 1976
  • 16 June: Soweto uprising. ^[9]
  • Market Theatre opens. ^[23]
• 1978 – Staffrider literary magazine begins publication. ^[24]
• 1980
  • Municipal workers' strike. ^[25]
  • Federated Union of Black Artists Academy established. ^[15]
• 1981 – The Sowetan newspaper begins publication.
• 1982
  • City Press newspaper begins publication.
  • Afrapix active. ^[24]
• 1984
  • 3 September: Sharpeville Six
  • 11 Diagonal Street built.
• 1985
  • Weekly Mail newspaper begins publication.
  • Mormon Temple dedicated.
  • Population: 632,369 city; 1,609,408 urban agglomeration. ^[26]
• 1987 – Water Institute of Southern Africa headquartered in city. ^[27]
• 1988 – 31 August: Bombing of Khotso House.
• 1989
  • Soccer City stadium opens.
  • Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation established. ^[27]
• 1991 – Population: 712,507 city; 1,916,061 metro. ^{[26] [28]}
• 1992
  • Johannesburg Stadium opens.
  • Centre for Policy Studies headquartered in Johannesburg. ^{[27] [29]}
• 1994
  • 28 March: Shooting at Shell House. ^[30]
  • City becomes seat of the new Gauteng province.
  • South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance established.
• 1995
  • Gallagher Convention Centre opens.
  • Centre for Development and Enterprise headquartered in Johannesburg. ^[31]
  • Johannesburg Biennale art exhibit begins. ^[15]
• 1996
  • 3 February: 1996 Africa Cup of Nations Final football contest played in Johannesburg.
  • Population: 752,349 city. ^[32]
• 1997
  • MTN Sundrome opens.
  • Flag of Johannesburg revised design adopted.
• 1998 – Website Joburg.org.za launched. ^[33]
• 1998 – St Peter's College was founded.
• 1999 – September: 1999 All-Africa Games held in city.
• 2000
  • City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Johannesburg City Parks created.
  • Stoned Cherrie in business. ^[34]
  • Population: 2,732,000 (urban agglomeration). ^[35]

21st century

Aerial view of Johannesburg, 2006

2000s

• 2001
  • Amos Masondo becomes mayor. ^[36]
  • Monash University, South Africa campus established.
  • Population: 3,226,055. ^[37]
• 2002
  • Soweto becomes part of city.
  • City hosts Earth Summit 2002.
• 2003 – Nelson Mandela Bridge built.
• 2004
  • Constitutional Court of South Africa building opens in Constitution Hill.
  • Drill Hall rebuilt.
  • Creative Commons South Africa headquartered at University of the Witwatersrand.
• 2005
  • University of Johannesburg established.
  • 2 July: Live 8 concert.
  • Population: 3,272,000 (urban agglomeration). ^[35]
• 2008
  • Joburg Art Fair begins. ^[15]
  • Google office in business. ^{[38] [39]}
  • Species Australopithecus sediba discovered near Johannesburg.
• 2009
  • 28 June: 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Final football contest played in Johannesburg.

2010s

• 2010 – 11 July: 2010 FIFA World Cup Final held.
• 2011
  • Parks Tau becomes mayor. ^[40]
  • Air pollution in Johannesburg reaches annual mean of 41 PM2.5 and 85 PM10, more than recommended. ^[41]
  • Population: 4,434,827. ^[37]
• 2013
  • 10 February: 2013 Africa Cup of Nations Final football contest played in Johannesburg.
  • 5 December: Nelson Mandela dies in Johannesburg.
• 2015 – October: #FeesMustFall protest. ^[42]
• 2016 – 22 August: Herman Mashaba becomes mayor
• 2016 – Mduduzi Edmund Tshabalala died in Johannesburg
• 2016 – October: #FeesMustFall protest revival.
• 2018 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela died in Johannesburg.
• 2018 – International 10th BRICS summit held at Sandton Convention Centre.
• 2018 – 24 October: Jabulani Tsambo died in Johannesburg

2020s

• 2021
  • 9 July 2021: Geoff Makhubo dies.
  • 10 August 2021: Jolidee Matongo becomes mayor.
  • 18 September 2021: Jolidee Matongo dies from a car accident

• 2023
  • 19 July 2023: Gas explosion destroys road in downtown. ^[43]

See also

• History of Johannesburg
• Mayor of Johannesburg
• City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
• Timelines of other cities in South Africa: Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria

References

1. Webster's Geographical Dictionary, US: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1960, OL   5812502M
2. H.T. Montague Bell; C. Arthur Lane (1905). Guide to the Transvaal. Johannesburg Reception Committee.
3. "Johannesburg (South Africa) Newspapers". WorldCat. US: Online Computer Library Center . Retrieved 2 May 2013.
4. Britannica 1910.
5. "South Africa". International Encyclopedia of the Stock Market. Fitzroy Dearborn. 1999. p. 964. ISBN   978-1-884964-35-0.
6. Jaques Malan (2005). "Opera Houses in South Africa". In Christine Lucia (ed.). World of South African Music: A Reader. Cambridge Scholars Press. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-904303-36-7.
7. R.F. Kennedy (1968). "Johannesburg Public Library". Journal of Library History. 3.
8. Rough Guide 2012.
9. Schmitz 2004.
10. Murchú 2007.
11. Christine Lucia, ed. (2005). World of South African Music: A Reader. Cambridge Scholars Press. ISBN   978-1-904303-36-7.
12. "Lexicon – Empire Exhibition" . Retrieved 5 December 2013.
13. Les Switzer, ed. (1997). South Africa's Alternative Press: Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880–1960. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-55351-3.
14. "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1955. New York: Statistical Office of the United Nations.
15. "Southern Africa, 1900 A.D.–present: Key Events". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art . Retrieved 30 August 2015.
16. Lionel Abrahams (1980). "Purple Renoster: An Adolescence". English in Africa. 7 (2): 32–49. JSTOR   40238472.
17. "Global Nonviolent Action Database". Pennsylvania, US: Swarthmore College . Retrieved 30 September 2014.
18. Nelson Mandela, Conversations with Myself (Random House Digital, 2010)
19. Gideon Shimoni, Community and Conscience: The Jews in Apartheid South Africa (University Press of New England, 2003) p67
20. Jacqueline Audrey Kalley; et al. (1999). Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events from Independence to Mid-1997. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-313-30247-3.
21. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office (1976). "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1975. New York. pp. 253–279.
22. "Demolition dreams: the world's 'worst' buildings", Financial Times, 31 October 2014
23. Kruger 2001.
24. "Afrapix timeline 1978–1991". South African History Online. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
25. Barchiesi 2007.
26. "Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". 1995 Demographic Yearbook. New York: United Nations Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, Statistics Division. 1997. pp. 262–321.
27. "Organizations". International Relations and Security Network . Switzerland: Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich . Retrieved 30 September 2014.
28. "South Africa". Africa South of the Sahara 2003. Regional Surveys of the World. Europa Publications. 2003. ISBN   9781857431315. ISSN   0065-3896.
29. "Introduction". Centre for Policy Studies. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
30. Roger B. Beck (2013). "Timeline of Historical Events". History of South Africa. Greenwood Histories of Modern Nations (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-61069-527-5.
31. "Think Tank Directory". Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
32. "Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 2011. United Nations Statistics Division. 2012.
33. "Joburg.org.za". City of Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 12 December 1998 – via Wayback Machine.
34. Michaela Alejandra Oberhofer (2012), "Fashioning African Cities: The Case of Johannesburg, Lagos and Douala", Streetnotes, 20 (20), ISSN   2159-2926 – via California Digital Library
35. The State of African Cities 2014. United Nations Human Settlements Programme. 10 September 2015. ISBN   978-92-1-132598-0. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014.
36. "Mayor". City of Johannesburg. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010.
37. "Statistics by Place: City of Johannesburg". Statistics South Africa . Retrieved 30 September 2014.
38. "Google Africa Blog". July 2008 – via Blogspot.
39. "Company: Locations". Google Inc. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013.
40. "South African mayors". City Mayors.com. London: City Mayors Foundation . Retrieved 2 May 2013.
41. World Health Organization (2016), Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, Geneva, archived from the original on 28 March 2014
42. South African students continue fees protest, BBC News, 26 October 2015
43. "One dead, 41 injured in suspected gas explosion in South Africa". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.

Bibliography

Published in 20th century

• A. Samler Brown; G. Gordon Brown, eds. (1906), "Johannesburg", Guide to South Africa (14th ed.), London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company
• "Johannesburg"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 15 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 431–432.
• "Johannesburg"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 31 (12th ed.). 1922. p. 659.
• G.-M Van der Waal (1987), From mining camp to metropolis: the buildings of Johannesburg, 1886–1940, Pretoria: C. van Rensburg Publications for the Human Sciences Research Council, ISBN   0868460494
• Noelle Watson, ed. (1996). "Johannesburg". International Dictionary of Historic Places: Middle East and Africa. UK: Routledge. ISBN   1884964036.
• Musiker, 2000. A Concise Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg, Francolin Pubs., Cape Town, South Africa.

Published in 21st century

2000s

• Loren Kruger (2001). "Theatre, Crime, and the Edgy City in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg". Theatre Journal. 53 (2): 223–252. doi:10.1353/tj.2001.0050. JSTOR   25068913. S2CID   190702059.
• Jo Beall; et al. (2002), Uniting a Divided City: Governance and Social Exclusion in Johannesburg, Earthscan Publications Ltd., ISBN   9781853839214
• People Behind the Walls: Insecurity, Identity and Gate Communities in Johannesburg, London: Crisis States Research Centre, 2002 – via International Relations and Security Network
• Okwui Enwezor, ed. (2002). Under Siege: Four African Cities, Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz  [ de ]. ISBN   978-3-7757-9090-1. Documenta11 + website
• Gardner Khumalo; et al. (2003), Alternative service delivery arrangements at municipal level in South Africa: Assessing the impact of service delivery and customer satisfaction in Johannesburg, Johannesburg: Centre for Policy Studies
• Paul Tiyambe Zeleza; Dickson Eyoh, eds. (2003). "Johannesburg, South Africa". Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History. Routledge. ISBN   0415234794.
• Lindsay Bremner (2004). Johannesburg: One City, Colliding Worlds. Johannesburg.
• Owen Crankshaw and Susan Parnell (2004). "Johannesburg". In Josef Gugler (ed.). World Cities beyond the West: Globalization, Development, and Inequality. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0521830036.
• "City of Hope, City of Fear: Johannesburg", National Geographic , vol. 205, Washington DC, 2004
• Christian M. Rogerson (2004). "Urban tourism and small tourism enterprise development in Johannesburg: The case of township tourism". GeoJournal. 60 (3): 249–257. doi:10.1023/B:GEJO.0000034732.58327.b6. JSTOR   41147888. S2CID   153867127.
• Christopher Schmitz (2004). "Johannesburg". In Kevin Shillington (ed.). Encyclopedia of African History. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-45670-2.
• Lindsay Bremner (2005). "Remaking Johannesburg". In Stephen Read; et al. (eds.). Future: City. UK: Spon Press. ISBN   0415284503.
• Ivor Chipkin (2005). "The Political Stakes of Academic Research: Perspectives on Johannesburg". African Studies Review. 48 (2): 87–109. doi: 10.1353/arw.2005.0054 . JSTOR   20065097.
• Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, ed. (2005). "Johannesburg". Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 375. ISBN   978-0-19-517055-9.
• S.B. Bekker and Anne Leildé, ed. (2006). Reflections on Identity in Four African Cities. South Africa: African Minds. ISBN   978-1-920051-40-2. (about Cape Town, Johannesburg, Libreville, Lomé)
• Franco Barchiesi (2007). "Privatization and the Historical Trajectory of 'Social Movement Unionism': A Case Study of Municipal Workers in Johannesburg, South Africa". International Labor and Working-Class History. 71 (71): 50–69. doi:10.1017/S0147547907000336. JSTOR   27673070. S2CID   145433168.
• Niall Ó. Murchú (2007). "Split Labor Markets and Ethnic Violence after World War I: A Comparison of Belfast, Chicago, and Johannesburg". Comparative Politics. 39 (4): 379–400. JSTOR   20434051.
• Sarah Nuttall, Achille Mbembe, ed. (2008). Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis. Duke University Press. ISBN   978-0822381211.
• Martin J. Murray (2008). "The city in fragments: kaleidoscopic Johannesburg after apartheid". In Gyan Prakash and Kevin Michael Kruse (ed.). Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life . Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-13343-0.

2010s

• Abdou Maliq Simone (2012). "People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg". In Kerstin Pinther; et al. (eds.). Afropolis: City Media Art. Jacana Media. p. 38. ISBN   978-1-4314-0325-7.
• Johannesburg and Pretoria. Rough Guides. 2012. ISBN   978-1-4093-1492-9.

External links

• "Johannesburg Timeline 1800–1991". South African History Online.
• "Registry: (Johannesburg)". Archivalplatform.org . Rondebosch. (Directory of South African archival and memory institutions and organisations)
• "(Johannesburg)". Directory of Open Access Journals . UK. (Bibliography of open access articles)
• "(Johannesburg)" – via Europeana. (Images, etc.)
• "(Johannesburg)" – via Digital Public Library of America. (Images, etc.)
• "(Johannesburg)". Internet Library Sub-Saharan Africa . Germany: Frankfurt University Library. (Bibliography)
• "(Johannesburg)". Connecting-Africa. Leiden, Netherlands: African Studies Centre. (Bibliography)
• "(Johannesburg)". AfricaBib.org . (Bibliography)
• "Johannesburg, South Africa". BlackPast.org . US.