Johannesburg is a city in South Africa's Gauteng province. It is the main financial and industrial center of the nation. Johannesburg, one of the newest big cities in the world, was established in 1886 after gold was discovered. Prior to becoming one of South Africa's four provinces, the city was a part of the Transvaal, an independent Afrikaner, or Boer, republic. Today, the city is a part of one of South Africa's nine provinces, Gauteng, which means "Place of Gold" in Sotho. The Highveld, a wide, grassy plateau that stretches across the interior of South Africa, is where Johannesburg is located. The city is situated on the edge of the Witwatersrand, also known as the Rand, which is a chain of low, rocky ridges that serves as a watershed between the drainages into the Atlantic and Indian seas. The city is between 5,700 and 5,930 feet (1,740 and 1,810 meters) above sea level. The climate of Johannesburg is moderate. The average temperature is around 75 °F (24 °C) in the summer and 55 °F (13 °C) in the winter, with very few periods below freezing. In both winter and summer, the city receives roughly eight hours of sunlight each day. Although the overall amount of rainfall fluctuates greatly from year to year, it averages around 28 inches (700 millimeters) annually. A major location for several creative and cultural industries, Johannesburg is a cultural center in South Africa with a diverse range of cultural venues. In addition to a plethora of other museums, theaters, galleries, and libraries, Johannesburg is home to the South African Ballet Theatre, the National School of Arts, and the University of Witwatersrand's School of the Arts.The Central Business District of Johannesburg is home to the Johannesburg City Library. The city is home to a number of Premiership and National First Division football teams. The top Johannesburg teams in the Premiership, such as Orlando Pirates (also known as the Buccaneers) and Kaizer Chiefs (also known as Amakhosi), are bitter rivals. They are headquartered at the Orlando and FNB stadiums in the city. Soccer City, the site of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, hosts a number of major league and cup matches. FC AK and Jomo Cosmos are the teams in the First Division. The stadiums used by Katlehong City and Alexandra United are Alexandra and Reiger Park, respectively.

A hub for politics, business, and culture in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area is San Jose. It has a population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area of 1.95 million, making it the most populated city in Northern California and the Bay Area and the 12th most populated city in the US.San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County and occupies 179.97 square miles (466.1 km2) on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay, in the heart of the Santa Clara Valley. With a GDP of $1.03 trillion in 2018, the CSA San Jose, which it shares with San Francisco, was the third-largest urban economy in the nation. At $106,757, this CSA has one of the highest GDPs per capita among the more than 500 major statistical areas in the United States in 2018. There is a height restriction for structures in the downtown area of San Jose Mineta International Airport, which is located beneath the airport's final approach corridor (as shown in the panoramic above). Local ordinances set the height limit, which is determined by the distance from the runway and a slope specified by FAA rules. The maximum height of core downtown buildings is at 300 feet (91 meters), though they can rise higher as they move away from the airport. The city's architecture has been much criticized in recent decades. Residents have voiced their displeasure about San Jose's dearth of visually appealing architectural designs. This lack of architectural "beauty" might be attributed to the downtown area's redevelopment starting in the 1950s, which involved demolishing entire blocks of old residential and commercial buildings. This is not the case for the Downtown Historic District, the Hotel De Anza, and the Hotel Sainte Claire, all of which are recognized for their architectural and historical value and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Numerous institutions and colleges can be found in San Jose. The largest is San José State University, the original site of the California State University (CSU) system and the California State Normal School, established by the California government in 1862. The institution, which has been in downtown San Jose since 1870, offers more than 250 bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degree programs to about 35,000 students. Because San Jose is a charter city under California law, it has the authority to pass municipal regulations that, within the bounds of the charter, may be in violation of state law.Under the city's council-manager system, the mayor nominates and the city council elects the city manager.