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Born on July 18, 1918 in the city of Transkei, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was only child Henry Mgadla Mandela and Noseki Fanny, who was part of an ancient family of aristocrats of the royal house of Thembu.
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He starts teaching in elementary school near Qunu, and begins to use the name Nelson.
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With the support of partners like Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo, he founded the Youth League of the ANC (African National Congress). Through the ANC, Mandela would reach the presidency of South Africa.
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Helps found the youth league of the ANC and marries Evelyn Mase, the first of his three wives. With it, Mandela had four children: Thembekile (1945), Makaziwe (1947 - died after four months), Makgatho (1950) and Makaziwe (1954).
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He participated in the People's Congress and the Letter of anti-apartheid freedom.
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Authorities arrested Nelson Mandela and decided to put him to death for treason. But the international repercussions served for the leader to stay free.
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Mandela divorced and marries Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela, who would have two daughters Zenani (1959) and Zindzi (1960).
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On 21 March, the opposition movement of the Pan African Congress organized a protest to burn the control books that prevented blacks from entry into areas of the Sharpeville district in northeast South Africa. Repressed by the police, the demonstration, initially peaceful, becomes a violent confrontation. Security forces open fire on the black crowd, leaving 69 people dead and 178 injured. Nine days later, the government imposes state of emergency, and Mandela and others are arrested.
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Mandela is arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for encouraging strikes and travel abroad without government permission.
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Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was imprisoned for 27 years.
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After strong international pressure, aged 72, was released on February 11, 1990. His first speech after leaving prison was in Cape Town in 1990.
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He received the Nobel Peace Prize along with then South African President Frederik de Klerke (1989-1994) for their joint efforts for reconciliation of the South African people. "We live with the hope that, as she battles to remake herself, South Africa is like a microcosm of the new world that wants to be born," said Mandela in his speech.
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On April 27, after more than four decades of segregationist apartheid regime, Mandela is elected president in the first multiracial elections in the country. Chaired South Africa until 1999. He was the first democratically elected president and the first black president.
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Mandela is diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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At age 85, he began to move away from public life, keeping its participatory approach in fighting AIDS.
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Makes his last public appearance in the final of World Cup 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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'Madiba', the name by which Mandela is popularly known in South Africa, has 95 years on 18 July. Lawyer, he was the leader of the movement against Apartheid who espoused racial segregation policies count black, imposed by the white majority in South Africa.
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Nelson Mandela died in 2013 at age 95 at his home in South Africa.