When you walk through the heart of Johannesburg today, you’re surrounded by gold-rush legacies and the echoes of Boer Republic politics.

But one listener to HOT 102.7 has floated a surprising new layer: could the city’s name trace back not to Boer officials, but to the royal line of Portugal? HOT 1027 News’ Al Prodgers has been digging into this intriguing possibility.

The theory contends that Paul Kruger—then president of the South African Republic (Transvaal)—was awarded a Portuguese knighthood during a diplomatic visit to Portugal. He allegedly sought to return the favour by naming the emerging city after the Portuguese king’s name, translated into Dutch: turning “João” into “Johannes”. In this reading, Johannesburg would originally have been something like “Joanesburgo”.

Nine years after the discovery of the gold reef on the Witwatersrand in 1886, when tensions with Britain peaked, the Transvaal government officially claimed the town was named for officials such as Johann Rissik or Christiaan Joubert—yet no airtight proof has emerged.

Listen to the report by Al Prodgers here:

The conventional view holds that the name derives from one or both of those Johann-named officials, and that the “Johannes” is simply the Dutch form of a common name. But the Portuguese-link theory adds a tantalising twist: what if the city was, from its very naming, connected to the Portuguese monarchy and rail links to Mozambique?

Indeed, Kruger’s government prioritized a rail line to Delagoa Bay (today’s Maputo in Mozambique), which had Portuguese involvement.

While historians have not embraced the Portuguese explanation (some calling it speculative rather than evidentiary), the story underscores how power, identity and naming often intertwine in colonial and post-colonial places.

Whether Johannesburg was really “Joanesburgo” may never be settled—but it reminds us that our city’s origin story might hold less certainty than we assume.

References:

• “Paul Kruger”, Wikipedia.

• National Archives South Africa – correspondence on rail link, Portuguese negotiations. (nationalarchives.gov.za)

• “Military Order of the Tower and Sword”, Wikipedia. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Order_of_the_Tower_and_Sword)