The term Greater Johannesburg may mean: * The area governed by the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (GJMC) from 1995 to 2000. * The current

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

, which superseded the GJMC in 2000 with the incorporation of much of Midrand and some of Modderfontein. * The place itemized in the 1996 census, defined as the MLC's constituting the GJMC (i.e. Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern Johannesburg MLC's) plus Kempton Park/Tembisa MLC, Edenvale/Modderfontein MLC and Midrand/Rabie Ridge/Ivory Park. the name "Greater Johannesburg" has not been used in any subsequent census. * The Johannesburg

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

which includes Johannesburg and the areas of the

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includes ...

, area under the

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

and the

West Rand The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold ...

. It is often referred to as the ''

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

'', or ''Rand'', after a low mountain range that runs through the area. Greater Johannesburg's growth was largely based initially on the discovery of gold, and the urban area runs the length of the gold-bearing reef from east to west. The case for including the East and West Rand in Johannesburg, as well as

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, is based on a number of factors: ** The area shares the same dialling code, 011 and 010 ** The East Rand and Soweto campuses of the former

Vista University Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other populatio ...

are incorporated into the

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the ...

. **

OR Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, ...

, which serves Johannesburg, is located in the East Rand. ** Roodepoort, always traditionally part of the

, was incorporated into the

in 2000, while

, always regarded as Johannesburg's sister city or major township during

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, was administered as part of the West Rand in the past. ** Residents from both the East and the West Rand often work in Johannesburg. ** The areas are not only strongly linked economically, but existing transport axes have also created strong functional links between Johannesburg and its hinterland. **

Eastgate Shopping Centre, Johannesburg Eastgate Shopping Centre is a super-regional shopping centre in Bedfordview, near Bedford Gardens and the Johannesburg city centre in Gauteng. It remains one of the largest centres in the country and is the fourth largest shopping centre in Gauten ...

, the second-largest in the metro area, straddles the border between Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni. ** Vehicles of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) and the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) are identical in design, but JMPDs are orange and EMPDs are yellow. The JMPD and EMPD sometimes carry out joint operations. ** Transport routes between Johannesburg, East and West Rand share the same metropolitan route numbering system.

References

{{Greater Johannesburg

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Geography of Johannesburg

See also

References