Witwatersrand
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Wit·wa·ters·rand
A region of northeast South Africa between the Vaal River and Johannesburg. It has been one of the richest gold-mining areas in the world since the discovery of gold in 1886.
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Witwatersrand
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Witwatersrand
Witwatersrand (wĭtwô'tərzrănd') [Afrik.,=white water ridge] or the Rand, region, Gauteng (formerly a part of Transvaal), South Africa. The area, which forms the watershed between the Vaal and Olifants rivers, is c.25 mi (40 km) wide and extends more than 60 mi (100 km) from west to east in a series of parallel ranges 5,000 to 6,000 ft (1,520-1,830 m) above sea level. The Rand is one of the world's richest gold-mining regions. The gold occurs in reefs, or thin bands, that are mined at depths of up to 10,000 ft (3,050 m). Development of the Rand dates from the 1880s. Although many of the older mines are now nearly exhausted, the Rand still produces most of South Africa's gold and much of the total world output. Silver and iridium are recovered as gold-refining byproducts, and the region also has coal mines. The Rand also has such industries as engineering, steel milling, metallurgy, machine building, diamond cutting, food processing, and the manufacture of chemicals, cement, furniture, and clothing. Major cities of the Rand are Johannesburg, Benoni, Boksburg, Springs, and Germiston.
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Witwatersrand
For the university in Johannesburg, see University of the Witwatersrand.
| Witwatersrand | |
|---|---|
 Landscape of the Witwatersrand National Botanical Gardens |
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| Highest point | |
| Coordinates | 26°12′13″S 28°2′34″E / 26.20361°S 28.04278°ECoordinates: 26°12′13″S 28°2′34″E / 26.20361°S 28.04278°E |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 460 km (290 mi) ESE/WNW |
| Width | 140 km (87 mi) NNE/SSW |
| Geography | |
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| Country | South Africa |
| Provinces | North West, Gauteng and Mpumalanga |
| Geology | |
| Orogeny | Kaapvaal craton |
| Period | Precambrian |
| Type of rock | Quartzites, conglomerates and shales |
The Witwatersrand is a large sedimentary range of rocky hills in South Africa. Although it has an elevation of 1700–1800 metres above sea-level, it appears low because of the average height of the surrounding mountain plateu. The Witwatersrand runs in an east-west direction through Gauteng. The word in Afrikaans means "the ridge of white waters".
Geologically it is complex, but the principal formations are quartzites, conglomerates and shales of the Witwatersrand System.
The Witwatersrand range forms a continental divide with rivers to the north such as the Crocodile River draining into the Limpopo River and Indian Ocean and with the run-off to the south draining into the Orange River and Atlantic. The Witwatersrand lies within the province of Gauteng, formerly called the PWV area, an acronym for Pretoria, Witwatersrand, and Vereeniging.
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Gold mining
Main article: Witwatersrand Basin
The rocks of the "Rand" or reef, as the Witwatersrand is sometimes known, are rich in uranium and gold. The area is famous for being the source of 40% of the gold ever mined from the earth. It extends for 280 kilometres from Klerksdorp in the west to Bethal in the east and is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) [1] deep in places. The South African currency was named after it. The reef's most northerly tip was discovered only a few kilometres from the present day town of Magaliesburg, at Blaauwbank, in 1874.
Urban areas
Witwatersrand also denotes the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area, which spans the length of the gold-bearing reef. The metropolitan area is oblong in shape and runs from the area of Randfontein and Carletonville in the west to Springs in the east. It includes the vast urban areas of the East and West Rand, and Soweto.
History
The Witwatersrand is in the Transvaal, formerly an independent state settled by the Boers after the Great Trek. J. H. Davis, an Englishman, was reported to have found gold "in considerable quantities" in July 1852 at Paardekraal near Krugersdorp, which was the earliest discovery on the Rand. Davis had sold £600 worth of gold (£457,000 in 2010 Pounds[2] to the Transvaal Treasury and had shortly thereafter been ordered out of the country in accordance with the prevailing policy of secrecy. In October 1853 Pieter Jacob Marais, born in Cape Town on 31 July 1826, discovered gold on the banks of the Jukskei River, this find too was hushed up. The first mining concern (the Nil Desperandum Co-operative Gold Company) was formed at Blaauwbank in 1874.[3] Gold was mined at various places on the Rand up to 1886, when the discovery of the Witwatersrand Main Reef set off the historic Witwatersrand Gold Rush.
The subsequent discovery of other rich and profitable veins of gold, as well as uranium, eventually led to the creation of the largest urban conglomeration in sub-Saharan Africa.[4]
See also
- Geography of South Africa
- List of mountain ranges of South Africa
- Pilanesberg
- Borakalalo Game Reserve
Further reading
- Breckenridge, Keith Derek (1995) An Age of Consent: law, discipline, and violence on the South African gold mines, 1910–1933. Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
- Cammack, Diana (1990) At the Eye of the Storm: the Witwatersrand and the Anglo-Boer war 1899–1902. London: James Currey
- Herd, Norman (1966) 1922: the revolt on the Rand. Johannesburg: Blue Crane Books
References
- ^ National Geographic
- ^ Measuring Worth, Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount - average earnings, retrieved on the 18/10/2010
- ^ Stals, E. L. P. (ed.) (1978) Afrikaners in die Goudstad: deel 1, 1886–1924; deel 2, 1924–1961. Pretoria: HAUM, 1978, 1986
- ^ Phillips, Ray E. (1938) The Bantu in the City: a study of cultural adjustment on the Witwatersrand. [Lovedale, Cape Province]: Lovedale Press (Ph.D. thesis, Yale University, [1937]; bibliog. refs. p. 394–406); R. E. Phillips was a member of the American Zulu Mission, Johannesburg)
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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© 2003 A.D. Mills Oxford University Press.
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