Johannesburg Johannesburg were destroyed and their people driven away during the wars emanating from Zululand during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (the mfecane or difaqane wars), and as a result, an offshoot of the Zulu kingdom, the Ndebele (often referred to as the Matabele, the name given them by the local Sotho–Tswana), set up a kingdom to the northwest of Johannesburg around modern-day Rustenburg. The main Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered in June 1884 on the farm Vogelstruisfontein by Jan Gerritse Bantjes that triggered the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the founding of Johannesburg in 1886. The discovery of gold
Benjamin S. Edwards Benjamin S. Edwards Benjamin S. Edwards (June 3, 1818 – February 4, 1886) was an Illinois lawyer, politician, and judge. Benjamin S. Edwards was born on June 3, 1818 in Edwardsville, Illinois, the son of Ninian Edwards, who was governor of the Illinois Territory 1809-1818 and Governor of Illinois 1826-1830. Edwards was educated at Yale University, graduating in 1838. He then spent a year reading law with Stephen T. Logan, before being admitted to the bar of Illinois in March 1840. Edwards practiced law for three years, and then, in 1843, set up a law partnership with John T. Stuart