Soweto

Soweto South Western Townships
Orlando Towers in the Orlando suburb of Soweto in 2006
Soweto Show map of Gauteng Soweto Show map of South Africa Soweto Show map of Africa
Coordinates: 26°16′04″S 27°51′31″E / 26.26781°S 27.85849°E / -26.26781; 27.85849[1]
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Main Place	Johannesburg
Area [2]
• Total	200.03 km2 (77.23 sq mi)
Elevation [1]	1,632 m (5,354 ft)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	1,271,628
• Density	6,400/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	98.5%
• Coloured	1.0%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.1%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	37.1%
• Sotho	15.5%
• Tswana	12.9%
• Xhosa	8.9%
• Other	25.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	1808
Area code	011

Part of a series on
Apartheid
Events 1948 general election Coloured vote constitutional crisis 1956 Treason Trial Sharpeville massacre Rivonia Trial Soweto uprising Church Street, Pretoria bombing Vaal uprising Trojan Horse Incident Khotso House bombing Cape Town peace march CODESA Assassination of Chris Hani Saint James Church massacre 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre
Organisations ANC APLA IFP AWB BBB Black Sash CCB Conservative Party DP ECC FOSATU PP RP PFP HNP MK PAC UDF Broederbond National Party COSATU Security Branch SACC SADF SAIC SAMA SAP SACP State Security Council
People Vernon Berrangé P. W. Botha Steve Biko Mangosuthu Buthelezi F. W. de Klerk Ruth First Bram Fischer Arthur Goldreich Chris Hani Bantu Holomisa Joel Joffe Ahmed Kathrada Albert Luthuli Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mac Maharaj D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela Govan Mbeki Thabo Mbeki Raymond Mhlaba Benjamin Moloise Albertina Sisulu Walter Sisulu J. G. Strijdom Joe Slovo Robert Sobukwe Helen Suzman Adelaide Tambo Oliver Tambo Eugène Terre'Blanche Desmond Tutu H. F. Verwoerd B. J. Vorster Jacob Zuma
Places Bantustan District Six Robben Island Sophiatown South-West Africa Soweto Sun City Vlakplaas
Related topics Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid in popular culture Apartheid legislation Cape Qualified Franchise Disinvestment campaign Freedom Charter Internal resistance to apartheid Kairos Document Music in the movement against apartheid Nostalgia for apartheid Project Coast Sullivan Principles
Category
v t e

Soweto (/səˈwɛtoʊ, -ˈweɪt-, -ˈwiːt-/)^[3][4] 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.^[5] Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg.