Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: born 18 July 1918 was President of South Africa. The first to be elected in a democratic election, who held office from 1994 to 1999. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartaid activist, and the leader of the African National Congress's armed wing. He was arrested for crimes committed while he led the movement against apartheid. In accordance with his conviction, Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island.
 
Following was release on 11 February 1990.

Since the end of apartheid, many have frequently praised Mandela, including former opponents. In South Africa he is often known as Madiba, an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan. The title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela.

Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, most notably the 1993 Nobelpeace Prize. In November 2009.

 

Apartheid a system of legal ratial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority black inhabitants of South Africa were reduced.

Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times, but apartheid as an official policy was introduced following the general election of 1948. New legislation classified inhabitants into racial groups ("black", "white", "coloured", and "Indian"), and residential areas were segregated by means of forced removals. From 1958, blacks were deprived of their citizenship, legally becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based self-governing homelands, four of which became nominally independent states. The government segregated education, medical care, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of whites.

A series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. As unrest spread and became more violent, state organizations responded with increasing repression and state-sponsored violence.

Reforms to apartheid in the 1980s failed to cool down the mounting opposition, and in 1990 President Frederik Willem de Klerk began negotiations to end apartheid, culminating in multi-racial democratic elections in 1994, which were won by the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela.