Orlando is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in the urban area of

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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The township was founded in 1931 and named after Edwin Orlando Leake, Mayor of

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 ...

from 1925 to 1926. It is divided in two main areas: Orlando West and Orlando East.

History

The township of Orlando was directly involved in some of the most important events of the fight against the

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 ...

system. Some of the most dramatic clashes between the South African police and anti-apartheid demonstrators occurred in Orlando West. This includes the Soweto uprising where 12-year-old

Hector Pieterson Zolile Hector Pieterson (19 August 1964 – 16 June 1976) was a South African schoolboy who was shot and killed at the age of twelve during the Soweto uprising, when the police opened fire on black students protesting the enforcement of teach ...

was killed. The

Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum The Hector Pieterson Museum is a large museum located in Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, two blocks away from where Hector Pieterson was shot and killed 16 June 1976. The museum is named in his honour, and covers the events of the anti-Apart ...

was established in Orlando West to commemorate those events. In the surroundings of the museum is the house where

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

lived for several years while practicing

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

; the house now hosts the

Mandela Family Museum The Nelson Mandela National Museum, commonly referred to as Mandela House, is the house on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962. It is located at number 8115, at the corner of Vilakazi ...

. Opposite the Mandela house is the Mandela Family Restaurant. South African struggle champion Mama Winnie Zanyiwe Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela resided in Soweto during the apartheid era until her death on 2 April 2018.
The Mandela Family Museum
''

Orlando Stadium Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is the home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team that plays in the Premier Soccer League. O ...

is the home of the

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

of the

South African Premier Division The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized sinc ...

. They have won nine total top-flight league titles (four in the modern Premier Division), and nine national cup championships.

Notes

Gallery

Image:Mandela museum soweto.jpg,

(Orlando West) Image:Hector Pieterson Memorial.jpg, Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum (Orlando West) Image:Orlando East Library.jpg,

Orlando East Public Library Orlando East Public Library is the oldest library in Soweto in South Africa. History The library is said to have started in two iron huts in 1948 that lacked both electricity and seating. The library was housed in the first building in Soweto d ...

Image:Regina mundi church, soweto.JPG, The Regina Mundi church in Moroka, Soweto {{Authority control Soweto Townships Johannesburg Region D