Information on the Johannesburg Region, Gauteng Province providing conference facilities

Johannesburg is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world and South Africa's only officially designated global city. Although Johannesburg is not one of South Africa's three official capitals it is the capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa. The South African Constitutional Court is situated in Johannesburg as well as the O.R. Tambo International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Africa and a gateway for international air travel to and from the rest of southern Africa.

What is known today as the Greater Johannesburg Region is believed to have been inhabited by nomadic Bushmen around 100 000 years ago. They would have lived in the Johannesburg area until about AD 1060 when the Bantu speaking people migrated to the area. The first major European settlement happened in the 1880's when gold was discovered in the Johannesburg region. Starting off as a small prospecting settlement the town grew rapidly with people coming from all over the world and the small town grew into modern day Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa.

The Johannesburg region is the financial and economic hub of South Africa and produces over 15% of South Africa's gross domestic product and accounts for 40% of Gauteng's economic activity. Johannesburg has a variety of manufacturing industries and many banking and commercial companies are located in the city. Africa's largest stock exchange, the JSE Securities Exchange, is located in Johannesburg. Johannesburg is home to some of the top private and public universities in South Africa. The public universities situated in Johannesburg are the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg. The most notable private university in Johannesburg is Monash University which has campuses in South Africa, Australia and Malaysia.

The Johannesburg region is filled with interesting activities and attractions. There are plenty of museums to visit, the most notable of which are Museum Africa and the Apartheid Museum. You can also watch the dancing Lipizzaner stallions at Kyalami which is the only operation of its kind other than the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Or you could go for a ride in a hot air balloon, take a scenic flight in a vintage aircraft, or even do a short paddle on the Crocodile River. The adventurous could try their hand at skydiving, sand board down a mine dump or rapp-jump a skyscraper. Johannesburg has a lot to offer in terms of shopping and their are many world class casinos in the area.

The greater Johannesburg region of Gauteng enjoys a temperate climate with dry, sunny conditions through the year with the exception of occasional late afternoon downpours in the summer months of October to April. In the winter the temperatures do occasionally drop to freezing point or below during the night.