Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela led the struggle to replace the apartheid regime of South Africa with a multi-racial democracy. He was imprisoned for 27 years and went on to become his country's first black president.

Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918 and was given the name of Nelson by one of his teachers. His father Henry was a respected advisor to the Thembu royal family.

Mandela was educated at the University of Fort Hare and later at the University of Witwatersrand, qualifying in law in 1942. He became increasingly involved with the African National Congress (ANC), a multi-racial nationalist movement trying to bring about political change in South Africa.

In 1948, the National Party came to power and began to implement a policy of 'apartheid,' or forced segregation on the basis of race. The ANC staged a campaign of passive resistance against apartheid laws. In 1952, Mandela became one of the ANC's deputy presidents.

By the late 1950s, faced with increasing government discrimination, Mandela, his friend Oliver Tambo, and others began to move the ANC in a more radical direction. Mandela was tried for treason in 1956, but acquitted after a five-year trial.

In March 1960, sixty-nine black anti-apartheid demonstrators were killed by police at Sharpeville. The government declared a state of emergency and banned the ANC. In response, the organisation abandoned its policy of non-violence and Mandela helped establish the ANC's military wing 'Umkhonto we Sizwe' or 'The Spear of the Nation.' He was appointed its commander-in-chief and travelled abroad to receive military training and to find support for the ANC.

On his return, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963, Mandela and other ANC leaders were tried for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. The following year Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was held in Robben Island prison, off the coast of Cape Town, and later in Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland. During his years in prison he became an international symbol of resistance to apartheid.

In 1990, the South African government responded to internal and international pressure and released Mandela, at the same time lifting the ban against the ANC. In 1991, Mandela became the ANC's leader.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with F.W. de Klerk, then president of South Africa, in 1993. The following year South Africa held its first multi-racial election and Mandela was elected its first black president.

In 1998, he was married for the third time to Graça Machel, the widow of the president of Mozambique. Mandela's second wife, Winnie, whom he married in 1958 and divorced in 1996, remains a controversial anti-apartheid activist. In 1997, he stepped down as ANC leader and in 1999, his presidency of South Africa came to an end.

Mandela continues to support a variety of causes, particularly the fight against HIV-Aids. In 2004, Mandela announced he would be retiring from public life and his public appearances have become less and less frequent. On August 29, 2007, a permanent statue to Nelson Mandela was unveiled in Parliament Square, London.