Soweto

The American Heritage Dictionary defines Soweto as "A city of NE South Africa SW of Johannesburg. Comprised of a number of townships inhabited by Black South Africans." When I visited this urban area a resident informed me that most Western visitors wrongly assume that its name somehow comes from a language native to Africa. He said that the name is actually an acronym for South Western Townships. Apparently Soweto was named for its relationship to an area held by whites during the apartheid regime (as the AHD pointed out, Soweto is located "SW of Johannesburg").