Born in 1918 in the South African province of Umtata, Nelson Mandela was the son of a Thembu chief. He attended the University of Fort Hare from which he was expelled for participating in a student demonstration. He then went on to the University of Witwatersrand where he earned a law degree in 1942. In 1944 he joined the African National Congress (ANC).

When the National Party came to power in 1948, and Apartheid was implemented, Mandela and the ANC challenged the government's racial policy. In 1956 Mandela was arrested and tried for treason, but he was acquitted five years later.

After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, both the ANC and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) were banned. Mandela gave up the ANC's strategy of non-violence and established the military organization, Umkhonto we Sizwe. In 1962 he was sentenced to five years of hard labour, and in 1963 he was charged with sabotage, treason and conspiracy along with other political leaders, resulting in a sentence of life imprisonment.

In 1990, after an unprecedented 27-year period in prison for political activism, President Frederik De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and released Mandela, who was elected president of the ANC one year later. Both men then led negotiations to put an end to Apartheid. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this work in 1993. The following year, South Africa held its first free elections ever and Nelson Mandela became president of the "rainbow nation". He remained in office from 1994 to 1999.