Orlando is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the urban area of

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), 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 T ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

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 was killed. The Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum was established in Orlando West to commemorate those events. In the surroundings of the museum is the house where

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

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, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

; the house now hosts the Mandela Family Museum. South African struggle activist and politician Winnie Madikizela-Mandela resided in Soweto during the apartheid era until her death on 2 April 2018.
The Mandela Family Museum
'' Orlando Stadium 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team Orlando Pirates of the South African Premier Division.

Notes

Gallery

Image:Mandela museum soweto.jpg, Mandela Family Museum (Orlando West) Image:Hector Pieterson Memorial.jpg, Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum (Orlando West) Image:Orlando East Library.jpg, Orlando East Public Library Image:Regina mundi church, soweto.JPG, The Regina Mundi church in Moroka, Soweto {{Authority control Soweto Townships Johannesburg Region D