Orlando, Soweto

Orlando
Orlando
	Orlando Orlando
	Coordinates: 26°14′28″S 27°55′01″E / 26.241°S 27.917°E
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Main Place	Soweto
Area
• Total	10.01 km2 (3.86 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	108,813
• Density	11,000/km2 (28,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
PO box	3680

Orlando is a township in the urban area of Soweto, South Africa. The township was founded in 1931 and named after Edwin Orlando Leake, mayor of Johannesburg from 1925 to 1926. It is divided in two main areas: Orlando West and Orlando East.

History

The township of Orlando was directly involved in some of the most important events of the fight against the apartheid system. Some of the most dramatic clashes between the South African police and anti-apartheid demonstrators occurred in Orlando West. This includes the Soweto uprising where 12-year-old Hector Pieterson was killed. The Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum was established in Orlando West to commemorate those events.^[2] In the surroundings of the museum is the house where Nelson Mandela lived for several years while practicing law; the house now hosts the Mandela Family Museum. South African struggle activist and politician Winnie Madikizela-Mandela resided in Soweto during the apartheid era until her death on 2 April 2018.^[3]