Johannesburg - West and South

Article published on 22 April 2014

Johannesburg it seems has been on a growth curve ever since those heady days in the late 1800's when gold was discovered. Much of the resulting industry was founded in and around the areas where the mines were.

Johannesburg has since spread itself over a sprawling 1600 kilometres in every direction and encompassing over a million households at last count.

Needless to say with a populace of this size trade and industry are bound to have boomed. The West Rand and the Southern suburbs are particularly significant when it comes to the distribution of industry as this is where the most industrial growth has taken place. Mining alone cannot account for all of the activity, though for many years this was the case for Johannesburg. The need soon arose for other commodites which enterprising individuals have chosen to produce in the same area.

While industry seemed to take hold and flourish in the West and the South, the city centre became the hub of commercial activity. The financial sector, the only sector currently larger than manufacturing, at 22% of Johannesburg's work force, established itself at approximately the same time as the mines came into production, allowing for a brisk trade of gold and it's shares.

Established in 1887, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is the largest in Africa and the 19th largest in the world. The Johannesburg stock exchange has kept up with trends and legislation and upgrade from paper to a digital trading system along with the rest of the world in the 1900's. As the stock exchange keeps up with world trading so too did our mines keep pace with the demand for the the precious metals so abundant in South African soil.

Mining along with manufacturing continue to flourish on the West Rand and expansion is just a matter of course. The same can gladly be said about the southern suburbs of Johannesburg where industry continues even as the city centre finds itself evolving to meet the needs of a young century.

sources:

https://www.jse.co.za/about/history-company-overview

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Rand