Transcript A Sightseeing Tour Around the Earth : Gauteng South Africa By Salvatore and Gabriella Homeschooled in Johannesburg South Africa by Penny iLearn ppm1- Places and.

A Sightseeing Tour Around the Earth :
Gauteng South Africa
By Salvatore and Gabriella
Homeschooled in Johannesburg South Africa by
Penny
iLearn ppm1- Places and Perspectives
January – May 2008
GAUTENG SOUTH AFRICA
We live in Bedfordview, which falls into Ekurhuleni. Click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/visitgauteng?target=
GAUTENG FACTS
Capital:
Johannesburg
Languages:
21.5%
14.4%
13.1%
12.5%
Share of SA population:
20.1%
Area:
16 548 square kilometers
Share of total SA area:
1.4%
Population density:
576 people per square kilometers
Gross regional product:
R413.6-billion
Share of total SA GDP:
33.3%
isiZulu,
Afrikaans,
Sesotho,
EnglishPopulation: 9 525 571 (2006)
History of Gauteng
Click on these links for a history of Gauteng:
http://www.xtimeline.com/events.aspx?q=
Bif200804260253058128281&p=1
http://www.southafrica.co.za/history_28.html
Views of Johannesburg skyline
Historic Buildings of Johannesburg
Johannesburg was
founded in 1886 and is
the largest and most
populous city in South
Africa. It is the
provincial capital of
Gauteng, the
wealthiest province in
South Africa, having
the largest economy
of any metropolitan
region in Sub-Saharan
Africa. The city is one
of the 40 largest
metropolitan areas in
the world, it is
Africa's most
advanced city, and one
of Africa's only two
global cities, the
other being Cairo.
Arial view of the city
centre
Anglo-American HO
Ansteys Tower,
located at 59 Joubert
Street is now a
national monument.
This building was once
the home of Cecil
Williams (actor,
playwright, and
member of Umkhonto
we Sizwe). Nelson
Mandela was
disguised as Cecil
Williams' driver when
he was captured on 5
August 1962.
Barbican Building
Johannesburg City Hall
now houses the Gauteng provincial
legislature
While Johannesburg does not form one of South Africa's three
capital cities, it does house the Constitutional Court- South
Africa's highest court.
Johannesburg is the source of a large-scale gold and diamond
trade, due to its location on the mineral –rich Witwatersrand
range of hills.
Johannesburg is also served by O.R Tambo , the largest and busiest
airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to
and from the rest of southern Africa.
Soweto is situate in the south west of Johannesburg. Soweto is a
township that the apartheid government established to
accommodate the large number of migrant workers who came to
Johannesburg from their villages and towns to work on the mines
of Witwatersrand.
The Hillbrow Tower is the highest structure in
Johannesburg, and is probably the city's
most recognisable landmark. The Hillbrow
Tower (previously known as the JG Strijdom
Tower) was built over three years, between
June 1968 and April 1971, and is 269m high.
It is owned by Telkom (previously by the Post
Office) and is used as a microwave tower. It
used to boast a revolving restaurant, but was
closed in January 1981 for security reasons.
The tower had a blue illuminated Telkom sign
installed on 31 May 2005, and was renamed as
the Telkom Joburg Tower. It is interesting
to note that the height of the Hillbrow
Tower is virtually the same as the length of
the Titanic (269m).
The Standard Bank building is unique in
Johannesburg, in that it was built from
the top down. After the central core was
built, the floors were suspended from
three cantilevered arms, with the top
floors added first, followed by each lower
floor. The building is organised into three
hanging volumes of nine office floors
each, with air conditioning plants housed
between the sections.
Photograph on right courtesy of
www.joburg.org.za
Since 2007 with all the new investments into the city centre,
the money is being poured into restoring Joburg's CBD.
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Astor Building and WLD High Court Witwatersrand
For more on the restoration of Johannesburg inner city click onto these interesting links:
http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/1902/203/
http://www.joburgnews.co.za/nov_2002/nov22_heritage.stm
http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/126/58/
Sir Herbert Baker buildings
Stone House, Sir Herbert Baker’s home in
Parktown Johannesburg
Rodean Girls School,
Johannesburg
Northwards,Johannesburg
http://www.southafricaholiday.org.uk/culture/fp_herbert
_baker.htm
St John’s College for Boys,
Johannesburg
GOLD REEF
CITY
Built around the No. 14 shaft of Crown Mines,
this city is an authentic reproduction of
Johannesburg at the beginning of the
1900s.
There are fully furnished miner's houses with
original furniture and fittings, including
pressed ceilings.
The museum exhibits include antique clothing
and children's toys, which take the visitor
back 100 years to the city that was. A train
encircles the park and many shops offer
interesting curios.
You can also visit the original gold mine in a lift
that goes down to 220 meters below the
surface. An on site casino is open 24 hours
daily.
http://www.goldreefcity-mint.co.za/
http://www.goldreefcity.co.za/theme_park/index.asp
Authentic mining
equipment in museum
APARTHEID MUSEUM,
Johannesburg
The Apartheid Museum was built to celebrate
the triumph of the human spirit over
adversity, inequality and humiliation.
Beginning in 1948, the white elected National
Party government implemented the policy
of apartheid which turned 20 million people
into second class citizens, damning them to
a life of servitude, humiliation and abuse.
Their liberation in 1994 with the election of
Nelson Mandela, the prisoner who became
president, is a climax in the saga of a
nation's resistance, courage and fortitude.
The Apartheid Museum , the first of its
kind, illustrates the rise and fall of
apartheid.
Click on this link to a video introduction
to the museum:
http://www.nowmediawebcasting.co.za/cli
ents/apartheid/
MANDELA FAMILY MUSEUM,
Soweto Johannesburg
Nelson Mandela's humble little house in Orlando West, Soweto,
now called the Mandela Family Museum, is an interesting stopover
for those who want to peep into the life of the “Black Pimpernel”,
the world's most famous former prisoner.
With FW de Klerk,
with whom he was
awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize
http://www.sa-venues.com/attractionsga/mandela-museum.htm
NEWTOWN CULTURAL
PRECINCT,
Johannesburg
For a map of Newtown click on this link:
www.joburgarchive.co.za/maps/IMS_NEWTOWN.pdf
Market theatre
http://www.markettheatre.co.za/
Newtown is central to all-year Jozi culture and the annual highlight, Arts Alive
International Festival, held every September – decidedly, a high point on
Johannesburg’s arts and culture calendar, when patrons of the arts spill in and
out of every available venue.
The indelible Kippies
Café celebrating the
contributions of
musicians to African
Jazz. It is named after
jazz legend Kippie
Moeketsi
Moyo (the Swahili word for soul... )
Restaurant at the Market
Theatrehttp://www.moyo.co.za/
NEWTOWN CULTURAL
PRECINCT,
Johannesburg
A bronze statue of Brenda
Fassie outside Bassline Jazz
Club
Brenda Fassie, South
Africa's undisputed queen of
pop,
Dubbed the "Madonna of
the Townships" in a 2001
Time Magazine interview,
Fassie emerged at the
height of the anti-apartheid
struggle in the 1980s to give
a voice to marginalised black
South Africans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrinswnda3
Q&feature=related
NELSON MANDELA BRIDGE
Paris has its Eiffel Tower, New York its
Statue of Liberty, Sydney its Harbour
Bridge. On 20 July, Johannesburg opened
the largest cable-stayed bridge in
southern Africa. Who else to name it
after but Nelson Mandela, the man who
led South Africa across the apartheid
divide?
Together, the Newtown and Braamfontein
developments form a "cultural arc" linking
the Newtown Cultural Precinct with the
Constitution Hill precinct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela_Bridge
Originally called Sophiatown, it
was destroyed, and a white
suburb called Triomf (Triumph)
was established in its place by
the apartheid government,
before the name Sophiatown
was officially restored in 2006.
SOPHIATOWN,
Johannesburg
Sophiatown became the
symbolic center of black
culture around
Johannesburg in the 1940s
and ‘50s. It was a focus of
arts, politics, religion, and
entertainment.
In the early hours, heavily armed police
entered Sophiatown to force residents
out of their homes and load their
belongings onto government trucks. The
residents were taken to a large tract of
land, thirteen miles from the city centre,
to the aptly-named empty fields of
Meadowlands (now part of Soweto)
Resistance was only peaceful.
The government bulldozed Sophiatown by
the end of 1963(except for the Anglican
Church of Christ the King and rebuilt it
as a white only suburb named Triomf
(Afrikaans for triumph). The ANC
government restored the name
Sophiatown in the late 1990s, although
the name change was only completed in
February 2006.
OLD FORT, CONSTITUTION HILL
Johannesburg
http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/
media/1997/9707/s970714
b.htm
The Constitutional
Court is a
groundbreaking building
that not only houses
the 11 judges who
guard South Africa's
Constitution but also
which stands as an icon
of our new culture of
democracy and human
rights.
http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/home.htm
http://www.concourt.gov.za/text/tour/main.html
It is fitting that the Court, a symbol of the democracy
that replaced apartheid, has been built on the site of the
Old Fort, Johannesburg's notorious prison - symbolising
the triumph of hope over a troubled past.
The building, which reflects the values of our new culture
of constitutionalism, needed a court chamber, public
areas, a library, public reading space and rooms for 11
judges and other staff. Few modern South African
buildings have inspired as much awe and excitement as
this one.
http://www.jhbzoo.org.za/
The main purpose of the Johannesburg
Zoo is the accommodation,
enrichment, husbandry and medical
care of wild animals. The
Johannesburg Zoo contributes to the
quality of life of the citizens
of Joburg through education,
conservation, research and
recreation of wild animals.
As Joburg started as a fast growing, rough and
raw mining camp little attention was paid
to the provision of parks for its residents.
Joubert Park, the first established park in
the city and later home of the
Johannesburg Art Gallery. A parks
department was established only after the
Anglo-Boer South African War (1899 –
1902) when a start was made with the
development of parks and recreational
spaces.
As land along the main Witwatersrand gold
reef was being mined for gold, it was hard
to find land for recreational purposes. ‘The
Wilds’ – a reserve for indigenous shrubs
and flowers in Houghton – was established
in 1938. Bezuidenhout Park, on the eastern
outskirts, was developed in 1945. The
homestead and cemetery of the original
owners, the Bezuidenhout family, still
exists. Many other parks and sanctuaries
followed all over the city and its suburbs.
The Botannical Gardens opened in 1968.
JOHANNESBURG BOTANICAL
GARDENS
The Crocodile Ramble, Magaliesburg
http://www.theramble.co.za/
Croc City Crocodile Farm provides the
opportunity to observe one of the world's
most spectacular predators at close range.
You are also given the chance to HOLD a
hatchling. On display we have croc hatchlings
to large adults of up to five meters in length.
The maze is now 30%
larger and the
beautiful Garden of
Reflection is filled
with poetry and
roses and things
spinning
and dancing in the
wind!
The Lion Park offers terrific close-up
views and other experiences with lions,
as well as rare white lions. Other large
predators at the Lion Park include
cheetahs, brown and spotted hyenas,
wild dogs and jackals. Superb filming and
photographic opportunities are also
possible.
http://www.lion-park.com/
“Dangerous Liasons “
A story about dangerous
companions
http://www.lionpark.com/companions2.htm
Lesedi Ndebele Village
MAPOCH VILLAGE
This is a charming, authentic
and earthy African experience
in the heart of the bush, a
cultural village with exciting
traditional dance display, craft
market, pub, restaurant,
junction venue and conference
centre.
This living cultural village (a
“kraal”) offers fascinating
history and an environment
where modern cultures blend
naturally with the values and
norms of the Ndebele people.
The colourfully painted homes of the Ndebele villagers
are an irresistible photo opportunity, and you must buy
a beautiful Ndebele doll!
The sensational handcraft beadwork of the Ndebele
woman folk make for a special addition to you curio
collection.
http://www.lesedi.com/
CONCLUSION
We hope that you have
not only enjoyed our tour
of Gauteng, but that you
have learnt about of
interesting, beautiful
country and in particular,
the province where we
live.
Beautiful
art and
crafts in
Newtown
Cultural
Precinct
There are many more fascinating and beautiful
places to visit in South Africa, but we have
chosen places which we really enjoy visiting, and
which are of historical importance for us.
Visit this blog and have a look at the tour you are
taken of around Johannesburg.
http://johannesburgdailyphoto.blogspot.com/
http://gardkarlsen.com/johannesburg_south_africa_2004.htm
Bruma Craft Market