Timeline of Johannesburg

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

19th century

Part of a series on the
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• 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]
• 1890 – Library opens.^[7]
• 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 mayor.
• 1899 – Fort built.

20th century

• 1900 – 31 May: Town captured by British forces during the Second Boer War.^[1]
• 1903
  • Johannesburg Stock Exchange building constructed.^[2]
  • Observatory built near town.^[4]
  • Sophiatown developed.^[8]
• 1904
  • Johannesburg Zoo and Transvaal Technical Institute established.^[4]
  • April: Brickfields burned.
  • 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.
• 1908 – Population: 180,687.^[4]
• 1922
  • University of the Witwatersrand incorporated.
  • January–March: Miner's strike.^[10]
• 1925 – Technikon Witwatersrand established.
• 1927 - Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra founded.^[11]
• 1928 – Johannesburg gains city status.^[1]
• 1929 - South African Institute of Race Relations headquartered in city.
• 1931 – Airport opens in Germiston.
• 1935 – Johannesburg City Library building opens.^[7]
• 1936 -
  • September 15: The Empire Exhibition World's Fair opens^[12]
• 1948 - Polly Street Centre founded.^[13]
• 1951 - Drum magazine begins publication.^[13]
• 1952 – Jan Smuts Airport established in Kempton Park.
• 1957 – 1957 Alexandra Bus Boycott.^[14]
• 1960 – Johannesburg Planetarium opens.
• 1961 – City becomes part of the Republic of South Africa.
• 1962 – Sentech Tower built.
• 1964 – Johannesburg Botanical Garden established.
• 1966 – Rand Afrikaans University founded.^[15]
• 1969 – Hyde Park Corner (shopping centre) in business.
• 1970 – Tollman Towers and Trust Bank Building constructed.
• 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.^[16]
• 1976
  • 16 June: Soweto uprising.^[9]
  • Market Theatre opens.^[17]
• 1978 - Staffrider literary magazine begins publication.^[18]
• 1980
  • Municipal workers' strike.^[19]
  • Federated Union of Black Artists Academy established.^[13]
• 1981 – The Sowetan newspaper begins publication.
• 1982
  • City Press newspaper begins publication.
  • Afrapix active.^[18]
• 1984 – 11 Diagonal Street built.
• 1985
  • Weekly Mail newspaper begins publication.
  • Mormon Temple dedicated.
  • Population: 1,773,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
• 1987 - Water Institute of Southern Africa headquartered in city.^[21]
• 1989
  • Soccer City stadium opens.
  • Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation established.^[21]
• 1990 - Population: 1,898,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
• 1992
  • Johannesburg Stadium opens.
  • Centre for Policy Studies headquartered in Johannesburg.^[21][22]
• 1994
  • 28 March: Shooting at Shell House.^[23]
  • City becomes seat of 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.^[24]
  • Johannesburg Biennale art exhibit begins.^[13]
• 1996 – Population: 752,349.^[25]
• 1997
  • MTN Sundrome opens.
  • Flag of Johannesburg revised design adopted.
• 1999 – September: 1999 All-Africa Games held.

21st century

• 2000
  • City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Johannesburg City Parks created.
  • Stoned Cherrie in business.^[26]
  • Population: 2,732,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
• 2001
  • Amos Masondo becomes mayor.^[27]
  • Monash University, South Africa campus established.
  • Population: 3,226,055.^[28]
• 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.
• 2005
  • University of Johannesburg established.
  • 2 July: Live 8 concert.
  • Population: 3,272,000 (urban agglomeration).^[20]
• 2008
  • Joburg Art Fair begins.^[13]
  • Google office in business.^[29][30]
  • Species Australopithecus sediba discovered near Johannesburg.
• 2010 – 11 July: 2010 FIFA World Cup Final held.
• 2011
  • Parks Tau becomes mayor.^[31]
  • Air pollution in Johannesburg reaches annual mean of 41 PM2.5 and 85 PM10, more than recommended.^[32]
  • Population: 4,434,827.^[28]
• 2013 – 5 December: Nelson Mandela dies in Johannesburg.
• 2015 – October: #FeesMustFall protest.^[33]
• 2016 – 22 August: Herman Mashaba becomes mayor
• 2016 – October: #FeesMustFall protest (again!).

See also

• History of Johannesburg
• Mayor of Johannesburg
• City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

Other cities in South Africa

• Timeline of Cape Town
• Timeline of Pretoria, Tshwane

References

Further reading

Published in the 20th century

• A. Samler Brown; G. Gordon Brown, eds. (1906), "Johannesburg", Guide to South Africa (14th ed.), London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company 
• 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. 

Published in the 21st century

• Musiker, 2000. A Concise Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg, Francolin Pubs., Cape Town, South Africa.
• 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. 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 
• Lindsay Bremner (2004). Johannesburg: One City, Colliding Worlds. Johannesburg. 
• Owen Crankshaw and Susan Parnell (2004). "Johannesburg". In Josef Gugler. World Cities beyond the West: Globalization, Development, and Inequality. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521830036. 
• "City of Hope, City of Fear: Johannesburg", National Geographic Magazine, Washington DC, 205, 2004 
• Christian M. Rogerson (2004). "Urban tourism and small tourism enterprise development in Johannesburg: The case of township tourism". GeoJournal. 60. JSTOR 41147888. 
• Lindsay Bremner (2005). "Remaking Johannesburg". In Stephen Read; et al. Future: City. UK: Spon Press. ISBN 0415284503. 
• Ivor Chipkin (2005). "The Political Stakes of Academic Research: Perspectives on Johannesburg". African Studies Review. 48. 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)
• Sarah Nuttall, Achille Mbembe, ed. (2008). Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822381214. 
• Martin J. Murray (2008). "The city in fragments: kaleidoscopic Johannesburg after apartheid". In Gyan Prakash and Kevin Michael Kruse. Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-13343-3. 
• Abdou Maliq Simone (2012). "People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg". In Kerstin Pinther; et al. Afropolis: City Media Art. Jacana Media. ISBN 978-1-4314-0325-7. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johannesburg.

• "Johannesburg Timeline 1800–1991". South African History Online. 
• "(Articles related to Johannesburg)". Connecting-Africa. Leiden, Netherlands: African Studies Centre. 
• "(Items related to Johannesburg)". Internet Library Sub-Saharan Africa. Germany: Frankfurt University Library. 

Years in South Africa (1910–present)
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