The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 led to a series of events which changed forever the economic and political relations between Britain and the Boer republics and eventually led to the war of 1899. The Discovery of Gold in South Africa - The British Empire
Discovery of gold in South Africa Gold was discovered on a Transvaal farm, Langlaagte, on the Witwatersrand in 1886 by two prospectors. This discovery caused a turning point in South African history. Far more than diamonds, it changed South Africa from an agricultural society to become the largest gold producer in the world. The gold discovered
Get Pricediscovery of gold on a large scale which was at once the occa-sion for the appearance of a striking comparative advantage and for a considerable movement of capital. South Africa's gold discoveries present a peculiarly happy situation for a study of the changes accompanying these new conditions. The country was small, almost solely pastoral or
Get PriceEven before the discovery of gold, the South African interior was an arena of tension and competition. Germany annexed South West Africa in 1884. The Transvaal claimed territory to its west; Britain countered by designating the territory the Bechuanaland protectorate and then annexed it as the crown colony of British Bechuanaland
Get PriceHowever, according to South African History Online, these were minor reefs and credit for the discovery of the main reef on Langlaagte Farm went to Australian George Harrison in July 1886. Johannesburg’s large gold deposits that ran for miles underground ensured the little mining town mushroomed into a
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Get Price2018-9-23 Gold in South Africa was first discovered in the late 19th century by two prospectors in a place called Witwatersrand, which triggered the 1886 Witwatersrand Gold Rush. This gold discovery was a turning point in the history of South Africa. It led . More
Get PriceWith the discovery of diamonds and gold the British realized that there was great wealth for the taking outside the Cape Colony. In 1877 they annexed the region where the voortrekker boers had founded their Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic, also called The
Get PriceAug 06, 2011 South Africa Department of Minerals and Energy (2007). South Africa is estimated, by the US Geological Survey, to have 6000 metric tons of gold reserves. A full 95% of South Africa's gold mines are underground operations, reaching depths of over 2.5 miles. Coupled with declining grades, increased depth of mining, and a slide in the
Get PriceWithin two years of gold being discovered on the Witwatersrand, four mining finance houses had been established. The first was formed by Hermann Eckstein in 1887, eventually becoming Rand Mines. Cecil Rhodes and Charles Rudd followed, with their Gold Fields of South Africa company
Get PriceFeb 24, 2015 Background and Focus of Grade 8- Term 2: The Mineral Revolution in South Africa. The Mineral Revolution in South Africa started with the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867, and intensified with the discovery of deep-level gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886. By the time that gold was discovered, African kingdoms had lost their independence
Get PriceGold had been mined since the early 1870s but was discovered on the Witwatersrand, in the Transvaal, in 1886. Thousands of white and black South Africans were employed on the mines by 1890. South Africa became the single biggest gold producer in the world and this meant great growth for the independent Boer governments
Get PriceSouth Africa has always been a mining powerhouse. Diamond and gold production were in 2013 well down from their peaks, though South Africa is still number five in gold and remains a cornucopia of mineral riches. It is the world's largest producer of chrome, manganese, platinum, vanadium and
Get PriceThe first recorded discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand was made by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884, on the farm Vogelstruisfontein, and was followed soon thereafter, in September, by the Struben brothers who uncovered the Confidence Reef on the farm Wilgespruit, near present-day Roodepoort. However, these were minor reefs, and today it is the general consensus that credit for the discovery of the main gold
Get PriceThe 1886 discovery of gold ushered in an influx of largely British labour and capital which established an industrial economy centred on Johannesburg where the uitlander (foreigner) was soon seen as a threat to the Afrikaner way of life
Get PriceJan 03, 2018 The first recorded discovery of gold was to have been found on the banks of Witwatersrand by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1886; a defining moment in South African history. Gold, more so than diamonds; revolutionized South Africa from an agricultural society to become the largest gold-producer in the world. Later, more gold mines were discovered further south and east of South Africa
Get PriceKimberley mine in 1873, only a few years after the digging for diamonds started. Discovery of Gold and Diamonds in South Africa. When gold was discovered in the eastern Transvaal (Pilgrim’s Rest, Mac-Mac Waterfalls and Barberton) a similar process took place
Get PriceSouth Africa experienced a transformation between 1870, when the diamond rush to Kimberley began, and 1902, when the South African War ended. Midway between these dates, in 1886, the world’s largest goldfields were discovered on the Witwatersrand. As the predominantly agrarian societies of European South Africa began to urbanize and industrialize, the region evolved into a major supplier of precious minerals to the world economy; gold
Get PriceOct 20, 2021 In a grassy plain in South Africa, once the world's largest gold producer, prospectors have stumbled upon a new treasure: helium
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