Johannesburg is South Africa's largest city and the economic hub of the country. It lies on the Highveld, the high plateau in the country's interior, and emerged from the gold rush on the Witwatersrand — unlike Cape Town or Durban, it has no coast or harbour, but rather a mining origin.For travellers, the city comprises very distinct districts: the revitalised centre around Maboneng and Newtown, the affluent northern suburbs of Sandton and Rosebank, and Soweto in the southwest, the country's largest township and a central place in the history of resistance against Apartheid. This region encompasses them.