PASSPORT
destination
johannesburg, South Africa The City Of Gold
In Johannesburg, South Africa (Jo’burg, Jozi or eGoli) there is a sense of an acquired melting pot…where disparities collide. This is an entrepreneur’s city that is large enough to make opportunities accessible to anyone who wants to initiate something new. Since coming of age over 100 years ago, it has now developed into a city vaster than London or New York. As the capital of South Africa’s Gauteng region, Jo’burg was initially constructed on the wealthiest gold reef in the world, producing
16
40% of the world’s bullion and has now become the city with the biggest stock exchange in all of Africa. Polished, prevailing skyscrapers fused with 19th century architecture set the mood for this relatively young international city. Its hurried, inventive vigor has gradually given way to contemporary retail, industrial and commercial localities. With a genuine intellectual focus on language, science and the arts, this is more than just the largest city in the country. With over 150 heritage sites, 12 river systems words by Elysia McMahan
•
SKINNIEMAGAZINE.COM
running through the land, and 40% of all the world’s human ancestor fossils having been discovered here, this metropolis is fast and in-your-face, as well as a place where the city and its populace do not get in your way, other than having to rub shoulders with the fruits of its labor. Environmental debris, overcrowding, poverty and violence have not prevented this realm from possessing some of the friendliest people or attempting to overcome these hindrances and restore onto itself a little dignity.