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BIRTH
Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the village of Mvezo, of South Africa. He was given the name Rolihlahla, a word of the Xhosa language meaning "troublemaker". His great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was the king of the Thembu people. -
CHILDHOOD
He grew up with two sisters and his mother's family in the village of Qunu, where he grazed herds of cattle and spent a lot of time with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate. He was the first in his family to receive an education as he went to a missionary school. -
STUDIES
When he was sixteen, he entered Fort Hare University College, the only Western-type institution for blacks in South Africa, and then moved to Johannesburg. He enrolled in law school at the University of Whitewater. There he studied law, shaping his political ideology and African culture. -
HIS STRUGGLE
His struggle dates back to his student years, when he fought for the political and social rights of indigenous peoples in South Africa. -
THE BATTLES
In 1944, after joining the African National Congress (ANC), he co-founded ANC's newly formed Youth. In 1952 he opened the first law firm in South Africa which consisted of black lawyers. The battles he waged in the following years against the institutionalized notions of that time, although they initially resulted in charges of high treason, eventually collapsed after a long trial. -
PERSONAL LIFE
Mandela was married three times, was the father of six children, had seventeen grandchildren. He could be considered a strict and demanding father to his children even though he was more affectionate with his grandchildren -
THE PRISON
In 1960, the African National Congress was outlawed as Mandela continued his campaign against the increasingly harsh regime of Apartheid. Thus, after his arrest, he was accused of sabotage and attempted overthrow of the government, while in 1964 he was sentenced to life imprisonment and his leadership was declared exiled. -
HIS WORDS
Mandela's goal was the anti-colonial struggle, Marxism and the resistance of the apartheid regime based on racial discrimination.He became the chief mediator in various peace talks in Africa. -
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
The international outcry led to Mandela's release in 1990.
He was honored, along with then-President Frederick de Clerk, with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. -
FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT
In May of the following year, Mandela won the election and was sworn in as South Africa's first black president, ending his term in 1999. -
HIS ILLNESS
In February 2011, Mandela was hospitalized for a short time in a Pretoria hospital with a respiratory infection. -
DEATH
Mandela died on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95.Finally, Mandela became a symbol of the fight against racism and the defense of human rights, such as equality and democracy.
