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In 1886, gold was discovered and what happened next was that thousands of gold diggers, speculators and fortune hunters arrived to make their fortune from this precious metal. The town was transformed into a sea of tents that sprawled across the dusty reef. This eventually turned Johannesburg into South Africa's commercial centre. The major gold mines were at the Witwatersrand gold mines and the black labourers were kept in large compounds near the mines. Other hostels housed other migrant workers for all sorts of industries. Many of the uitlanders or foreigners were given only limited voting rights and the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War, which was between the British and the Afrikaaner nationalists). Many black people were fighting on both sides, because they were employed by both sides. The Johannesburg Fort was surrendered to the English eventually. Later on in the 20th century, with the Rivonia Trial, the jailing of Nelson Mandela and the student uprising in 1976, came the end of apartheid in South Africa. Soweto is largely a number of townships grouped together and it now is transforming itself into a vibrant city. Johannesburg has moved on and its people are justly proud. |