So·wet·o
a large
township that was established near Johannesburg in South Africa for black people to live in, because they were not allowed to live in Johannesburg under the old system of
apartheid, although they were allowed to work there. In 1976 a student protest against the use of the Afrikaans language instead of English in schools became a
riot and almost 200 people, including many children, were killed by the South African police and army. As a result, Soweto became an important centre for opposition to the white government.