First Inhabitants of the Johannesburg Area: The Sotho-Tswana People

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region that became Johannesburg were the Sotho-Tswana people, who settled there in the 16th century. These Bantu-speaking groups established communities in the Highveld grasslands long before the 1886 gold discovery that sparked the city's founding. Their presence marks the deep indigenous history of the Witwatersrand area.