Consequently, the fact that the discovery of gold and diamonds happened so narrowly apart, as well as the added availability of large coal deposits in neighboring areas, meant that there was an increasing economic and politic interest in these areas. Furthermore, there were large coal deposits in Natal (which at the time, was one of the neighboring colonies of the Transvaal). A prime example of an investor is De Beers South Africa, which was owned by Cecil John Rhodes and became the largest diamond producer and distributor in the world. This event set off the ‘diamond rush’ of South African in the 1870’s and meant that a mass number of diggers and investors were already attracted to the northern parts of South Africa. When speaking about investment and capital surrounding the early gold-mining industry of Johannesburg, it is important to keep in mind that the world’s largest source of diamonds was discovered in Kimberley in 1866. The Development of the Mining IndustryĢ.1 Foreign Investors and Mining Companies The gold fields in the Transvaal colony and surrounding area was the “largest single producer of gold in the world”. This outcrop turned out to be a part of the reef that was later called the “Main Reef” and turned out to set off the beginning of the South African “Gold Rush” in 1886. On his way, Harrison found an outcrop of rock and after crushing the rock, he discovered a “tail of gold”. Harrison was travelling between a farm called Wilgespruit and a farm called Langlaagte to visit a friend, George Walker. The first gold reef in the Witwatersrand was discovered by a man called George Harrison. However, the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand in 1886 was arguably one of the most significant discoveries as it supplied a great portion of the World’s gold in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Discovery of Gold in the Witwatersrand:ĭuring the late 19th century, various gold strikes (discovery of gold) occurred in areas in America, Australia, Asia and southern Africa. This Section is divided into the following discussion points:ġ. Image Source (Accessed on 18 November 2020). These impacts are important to understand as it gives one an insight of how some economic, social and political divisions were created and how this impacted the future generations.Īn Image depicting the Witwatersrand after the gold rush in South Africa in the 1880’s. We will also discuss how the mining industry developed and how the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand impacted the area and all of its inhabitants. In this section we will briefly discuss the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand and the Gold Rush.
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