Bridging the country: A brief history of bridges in South Africa

Proponents of capitalism, imperialism, and nationalism have interacted in different ways and to varying degrees, to eventually draw the country into a process of global industrialisation that, with the March of time, has now bequeathed a complex and comprehensive legacy of industrial heritage. Motivated by concern that these heritage resources are often treated as single, decontextualised entities, I have developed a framework by which to illustrate the interconnectedness of different categories of resources. In doing so, I make liberal use of the viewpoints expressed by scholars such as Immanuel Wallerstein and Arjun Appadurai. By focusing on one category of heritage features, namely bridges, I aim to illustrate the rich tangible and intangible heritage resources that resulted from the drive to exploit the country s natural wealth. As a counterpoint to the various formal theories, I link this development to social/satirical commentary dating to a period of intense industrial growth and resultant infrastructure development, i.e. the development of the Witwatersrand gold fields. Early social commentators or satirists, such as William H. Schroder, Heinrich Egersdorfer, Anton van Wouw and W. Black give excellent insights into the scramble that eventually produced our industrial heritage.