South African Gold Rush

About South African Gold Rush

The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 transformed South Africa. The gold was deep underground, requiring expensive mining operations that created the South African mining industry. Johannesburg was founded on the gold reef. The industry attracted workers from across southern Africa under brutal conditions. Cecil Rhodes made his fortune in diamonds and gold. The mining economy created the foundations of South African industrialization but also the migrant labor system and apartheid. South Africa produced over 40 percent of all gold ever mined. The deepest mines reached 4 kilometers underground, the deepest in the world.