Gauteng, Place of Gold, in the heart of the Highveld is the smallest of South Africa's nine provinces, but it is the economic powerhouse of the Southern African region and home to Africa's greatest cities.
It is highly urbanised with an excellent infrastructure and has the second largest population after Kwazulu Natal.
From the vibrant metropolis of Soweto, through dynamic Johannessburg to the tree-lined diplomacy of Pretoria, Gauteng is a cosmopolitan, multi-cultural mix of people from all walks of life, from all four corners of the world.
Gauteng's wealth is not only in its gold, but in its people. Its unique cultural and social legacy is its multicultural melting pot, evidenced in many excellent museums, theatres, galleries, cultural precincts and craft markets.
It is the most industrialised province, the economic hub of South Africa and also the gateway to all of Africa.
Its southern border is the Vaal River, which separates it from the Free State, and it also borders on North West, Limpopo Province and Mpumalanga.
It is not only the major urban centre of the northern part of the country but the economic powerhouse of the entire country.
It's capital and largest city is Johannesburg, Virtually continuous urban east and west extensions stretch through many towns including Roodepoort and Krugersdorp on the west and Germiston, Springs, Boksburg and Benoni on the east. This expansion is a result of development along the immensely rich gold-bearing reef of the Witwatersrand.
Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, is 50km to the north of Johannesburg and the important industrial and coal-mining towns of Vereeniging and Vanderbiljpark about the same distance to the south, on the Vaal.
In spite of its dense urbanisation and large industrial and business sectors, Gauteng has significant agricultural land providing fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat to the cities as well as areas where maize, groundnuts, sunflowers, cotton and sorghum are grown.
Like the rest of the interior this is a summer rainfall area. Summers are hot and winters frosty but dry.