Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) was born in Transkei, South Africa. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party’s apartheid policies from 1948 until his arrest in 1962. In November 1962 he was sentenced to five years in prison and started serving his sentence at Robben Island Prison in 1963 before being brought back to Pretoria to stand in the Rivonia Trial. From 1964 to 1982, he was again incarcerated at Robben Island Prison and then later moved to Pollsmoor Prison, during which his reputation as a potent symbol of resistance to the anti-apartheid movement grew steadily. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was inaugurated as the first democratically-elected president of South Africa in 1994. He is the author of the international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom.