Globechadder

In my previous post, I touched on our long journey to Southern Africa, landing in the vibrant economic hub of Johannesburg. While our main adventure would soon take us to the wilder landscapes of Namibia and Botswana, our brief time in Jo’burg offered a crucial opportunity to begin understanding the layered history of South Africa – a history far more intricate and impactful than we initially grasped.

Johannesburg, known as the “City of Gold” or Egoli, was founded with astonishing rapidity in 1886 following the momentous discovery of vast gold deposits. This mineral wealth fueled a spectacular boom, transforming a dusty mining camp into South Africa’s most populous city in mere decades. The rapid development of the gold mines, however, was built upon the labor of a diverse workforce, primarily African tribesmen and other groups legally defined as “coloureds” under the colonial and later apartheid systems. This early stratification laid the groundwork for the deep societal divisions that would come to characterize the nation.

Our first foray into South Africa began with some short-lived exploration of Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD). Neither Todd nor I were fully aware of the profound intricacies of South Africa’s racially turbulent past. As we walked, we began to learn that while divisions had been subtly woven into the fabric of society since colonialism, the 20th century saw these disparities escalate into overt, enshrined laws under apartheid. This system restricted people’s abilities to work, vote, live, and even forcibly removed them from their homes, driving further splits and categories of people into segregated areas and townships around Jo’burg and across the country. The sheer scale and brutality of these policies were staggering. It was through persistent protests and determined demonstrations from both locals and the international community that change was eventually forced, leading to the dismantling of apartheid in the early 1990s.

Our walk began at Gandhi Square, a fitting starting point given Mahatma Gandhi’s early legal career and activism in Johannesburg before his return to India. From there, we headed north, immersing ourselves in the dense building-scape of the CBD. The architectural style here is a fascinating, if sometimes melancholic, mix, primarily featuring flashes of Victorian Colonial, Edwardian Baroque, Art Deco, and Modernism. Each building seemed to tell a silent story of a different era of the city’s growth and aspirations.