Soweto, urban area in northeastern South Africa, in Gauteng Province, located 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Johannesburg. Soweto, a sprawling conglomeration of townships, developed in the 1940s to house black workers for the region's gold mines. Most of the black population of the Johannesburg metropolitan area live in Soweto. The name Soweto is an acronym for South-Western Townships.
Soweto's location and size helped bring it to the forefront of black resistance against apartheid, the South African government's rigid policy of racial segregation that was in effect from 1948 to the early 1990s. Soweto became a major focus of international attention, especially after riots that occurred there in 1976.
