In which South African city did Mahatma Gandhi first use the term “satyagraha”?

Mahatma Gandhi first used the term “satyagraha” in Johannesburg. He introduced the word in 1906 during resistance by the Indian community in the Transvaal against discriminatory registration requirements.

The term combines Sanskrit-derived ideas commonly translated as “truth” and “holding firmly” or “force.” Gandhi developed it to distinguish his method from the phrase “passive resistance,” which he believed did not fully express the active moral courage and commitment to truth that he intended.

The Johannesburg meeting where the new term emerged was connected with the campaign against the Asiatic Registration Act. Satyagraha later became central to Gandhi’s campaigns in India, including movements against colonial rule. It is not simply a synonym for any protest: in Gandhi’s usage, it implied disciplined, nonviolent resistance.