Soweto

Soweto is an urban area located 24 km southwest of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province of South Africa.

Soweto is one of the largest land areas in South Africa, with its approximate population estimated to be between 3 and 4 million people, as it is presumed that approximately 65% of Johannesburgers reside in Soweto, although the the 2001 census estimates them at 896,995. Their name derives from the syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships (Southwestern Settlements).

It hit the news on June 16, 1976, when 15,000 students rioted over the government's decision to promote education in Afrikaans instead of English. Government machine-gunned students, killing 566 (Soweto massacre), one of the first of whom was Hector Pieterson (12 years old).

It has gone from being the seat of the fight against the regime of racial discrimination to also being the patent emblem of its brutality.

History

During apartheid times, Soweto was built to accommodate black Africans who until then lived in areas designated by the government for whites (such as the multiracial area called Sophiatown). Today, Soweto's population remains majority black.

Rapid industrialization between World War I and World War II in South Africa led to a massive migration of the rural population to Johannesburg, the hub of the nation's mining industry. This generated fear among the white minority of the possible consequences of the creation of a black self-government. In this way, in 1948 a department of about 65 km² was established to settle the workers.

Overcrowding and oppression were the main hallmarks of life in Soweto, a consequence of the headlong growth during apartheid. This was evident in the demonstrations of Desmond Tutu, a resident of the city in the 1970s, when he condemned the precariousness of the situation: poorly built schools, teachers without university studies, swimming pools shared by hundreds of thousands of people, houses without drinking water no electricity etc

On June 16, 1976, the most serious event in the history of Soweto, and perhaps in the entire history of South Africa, occurred. It had as a precedent a government mandate that required teaching in both Afrikaans and English equally, something crazy, taking into account that the urban population did not speak that language, which generated a protest, which, despite being peaceful, left some 566 dead student children.

Soweto was the highest expression of opposition to apartheid until the election of Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa in 1994, ending the regime.

News

A neighborhood of Soweto in 2016

Today Soweto is divided into several neighborhoods; a few, like Orlando West and Dube, are upper-middle class. Tourism grows little by little despite the depressed appearance of the city, so most of the areas of interest are for historical reasons.

The name Soweto is a contraction of English "South Western Township&# 3. 4; (South West Township), and means nothing other than this in any other South African language.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification, Soweto's climate is of the high-altitude subtropical (Cwb) type.

Soweto's average climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	26.4	25.8	24.7	22.1	19.6	16.9	17.3	20.3	23.4	25	25.3	26.1	22.7
Average temperature (°C)	20.4	19.8	18.5	15.5	12.1	9	9.2	12.1	15.7	18	19	19.9	15.8
Temp. medium (°C)	14.4	13.9	12.3	8.9	4.6	1.2	1.2	4	8	11	12.7	13.7	8.8
Total precipitation (mm)	136	101	84	63	20	8	7	7	24	73	112	115	750
Source: Climate-Data.org, altitude: 1667m