The Johannesburg Stock Exchange: Between the Goldfields of the Witwatersrand and the City of London. 1887-1899.

The research project intends to establish an account of the formation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and trace its developments up until just before the South African War in 1899. I plan to connect the JSE, its capital, riches and influential figures, to the greater imperial economic initiative of the British for Southern Africa at the end of the 19th century.

As significant as gold was to altering the course of South Africa’s history, I plan to argue that it was the immense capital flows to and from the JSE, which facilitated the mining revolution, its expansion and its function as a catalyst for the South African War in 1899. As controversial and sensitive as South African economic history was for the nation’s political transformation and identity in 1994, little research has dealt with specific institutional developments and foundations that continue to drive the post-Apartheid South African economy. I plan to undertake an extensive investigation of the JSE, its institutional makeup, corporate identity and most importantly, its financial operations between 1887 and 1899.