Geography & History
GEOGRAPHY
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 rush that gave rise to the establishment of Johannesburg. The West Rand
extends from Randfontein in the west to Roodepoort in the east, and includes the town of Krugersdorp in
Mogale City. The areas of Carletonville and Westonaria are sometimes included as being part of the Far
West Rand. The areas are economically linked to the city through the gold mining industry. Following the
creation of the Johannesburg unicity in 1999, Roodepoort, which is traditionally regarded as part of the
West Rand, became part of Johannesburg municipality. After 1999, much of the area (excluding Roodepoort,
which became part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality) became part of the newly-formed
West Rand District Municipality.
Despite being a separate municipal area, like the East Rand, the West Rand is included in the Greater
Johannesburg metropolitan area. To this end, the West Rand shares the same dialling code as Johannesburg
(011 locally). It is not uncommon for residents of the West Rand to work in Johannesburg proper and vice
versa.
The Cradle of Humankind - History of Discoveries
In 1935 Robert Broom found the first ape-man fossils at Sterkfontein and began work at this site.
In 1938 a young schoolboy, Gert Terrblanche, brought Raymond Dart fragments of a skull from nearby
Kromdraai which later were identified as Paranthropus robustus. Also in 1938 a single ape-man tooth
was found at the Cooper's site between Kromdraai and Sterkfontein. In 1948 the Camp-Peabody Expedition
from the United States worked at Bolts Farm and Gladysvale looking for fossil hominids but failed to
find any. Later in 1948 Robert Broom identified the first hominid remains from Swartkrans cave. In 1954
C.K. Brain began working at sites in the Cradle including Coopers and he soon would initiate his three
decade work at Swartkrans cave which would result in the recovery of the second largest sample of hominid
remains from the Cradle. The oldest controlled use of fire was also discovered at Swartkrans and dated
to over 1 million years ago.
In 1966 Phillip Tobias began his excavations of Sterkfontein which are still continuing and are the
longest continuously running fossil excavations in the world. In 1991 Lee Berger of the University of
the Witwatersrand discovered the first hominid specimens from the Gladysvale site making this the first
new early hominid site to be discovered in South Africa in 48 years. In 1994 Andre Keyser discovered
fossil hominids at the site of Drimolen. In 1997 Kevin Kuykendall and Colin Menter of the University
of the Witwatersrand found two fossil hominid teeth at the site of Gondolin. Also in 1997, the near-
complete Australopithecus skeleton of "Little Foot", dating to around 3.3 million years ago (although
more recent dates suggest it is closer to 2.5 million years ago), was discovered by Ron Clarke. In 2001
Steve Churchill of Duke University and Lee Berger found early modern human remains at Plovers Lake.
Also in 2001 the first hominid fossils and stone tools were discovered in-situ at Coopers. In 2010,
Lee Berger discovered the partial remains of two hominids (Australopithecus sediba) in the Malapa Fossil
Site that lived between 1.78 and 1.95 million years ago.
The Magaliesberg Mountain Range
The Magaliesberg Mountain Range (historically also Cashan Mountains) is a mountain range extending from Pretoria
in the north of the Gauteng Province to a point south of Pilanesberg, in the North West Province,
South Africa (see also Pilanesberg National Park). The highest point of the Magaliesberg is reached
at Nooitgedacht (1 852 metres).
The area around the Magaliesberg range has seen extremely lengthy occupation by humans dating back
at least 2 million years to the earliest hominin species (such as Mrs Ples) in and around the
Sterkfontein Caves, which lie at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, close to the town of
Magaliesburg.
The later inhabitants of the mountain range called them the Kashan mountains, after a local chief.
By the mid 1800s, one of the more important chiefs of the area was named, Mogale, and the mountains
became known as Magaliesberg, or Mogale's mountain. "Mogale" means "sharp" or "clever" person, but
is also the common word for a warrior or Tswana soldier. Similarly, the mountain range to the north,
near Sun City, Pilanesberg, was named after the local Bakghatla chiefs, who were called Pilane.
In 1822 Shaka sent his most trusted commander, Mzilikazi, to conquer the Sotho tribes of the region.
After accomplishing this task, Mzilikazi decided to break away from Shaka and found his own nation,
the Matabele. As he feared an attack from Shaka if he returned home he settled in the Magaliesberg
regions.
On 17 January 1837, after some Voortrekkers had been attacked and killed by Mzilikazi's impis they
counter-attacked and, under the leadership of Hendrik Potgieter and Gerrit Maritz, and with the help
of local Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms, drove the Matabeles north across the Limpopo River. Because the re-
conquest of the region was a cooperative venture of the Boers and the Sotho-Tswana against the Matabele,
the Boers and Sotho-Tswana had friendly relations at the beginning of white settlement. These friendly
relations are reflected in the name of the main Boer town, Rustenburg, or "resting town," because it
seemed to them that they would not have to engage in any more fighting against African communities.
The Boers initially settled south of the Magaliesberg in the highveld leaving the bushveld north of the
Magaliesberg mostly to their Sotho-Tswana friends and allies; according to Ms. Sarah Heckford's memoir,
"A Lady Trader in the Transvaal," the Boers would move into the bushveld to visit their Sotho-Tswana
neighbors during the winter in what Heckford described as a big picnic. According to oral testimony by
Tswana headmen recorded around the turn of the 20th century, many individual Boers formed close friend-
ships with prominent individual Tswana headmen and chiefs, especially for the purpose of forming hunting
parties to gather ivory and other products from further north. Subsequently the Boers began settling in
the valleys of the Magaliesberg Range and in the bushveld north of the Magaliesberg, and turned the region
into some of the most productive farmland in South Africa, while displacing their former allies, confining
them to locations and reserves.
The area saw some heavy fighting during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Boers, being extremely familiar
with the mountains, used secret pathways across the mountains to launch guerrilla attacks on the British
soldiers. In response, the British forces built blockhouses on top of the mountains in order to restrict
the movement of the Boer forces; ruins of these structures are still to be seen on the mountain.
Control of the Magaliesberg Mountain Range was of great importance to both the Boer and the British forces,
especially the two routes between Pretoria and Rustenburg, which crossed it at Silkaatsnek and Kommandonek,
respectively. As a result many battles, such as the battles of Buffelspoort, Nooitgedacht and Olifantsnek
were fought in the area.
After the war, farms in the area were reoccupied and farming was resumed, tobacco and citrus being
particularly successful.
In 1923 the Hartbeespoort Dam, situated in one of the valleys of the range, was completed. It became a
popular holiday and weekend destination for the inhabitants of Johannesburg and Pretoria, and the villages
of Hartbeespoort and Kosmos developed as a result.
At present the Magaliesberg area is still largely agricultural, although tourism is a rapidly growing
industry in the area.
Kgaswane Mountain Reserve is a nature reserve above Rustenburg covering 4257ha of the Magaliesberg.
Numerous smaller reserves, private and state, are to be found along the length of the range.