War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.

Thomas Jefferson, 1743 – 1826
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela biography at QuotationFun

A Short Biography of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Author Name:

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Born As:

Rolihlahla Mandela.

Other Names:

Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. Aged 16, he, traveled to Tyhalarha to undergo the circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men and was given the name 'Dalibunga'.

Born:

18 Jul 1918

Died:





author picture 
President of South Africa - 1994-1999                          
                          
Mother Nosekeni Fanny - Mandela's father's third wife
Father Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa

First wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase - 1944–1957,  two sons Madiba Thembekile - 1946–1969 and Makgatho Mandela - 1950–2005, and two daughters, both named Makaziwe Mandela born 1947 and 1953. Their first daughter died aged nine months, and they named their second daughter in her hoour - divorced 1996.
Second wife Winnie Madikizela - 1957–1996, two daughters, Zenani 4 February 1958, and Zindziswa, Mandela-Hlongwane - 1960
Third wife Graça Machel - 1998–present

Six children, twenty grandchildren.                          
Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement In office - 
3 September 1998 – 14 June 1999

Nelson Mandela became the oldest elected President of South Africa when he took office at the age of 75 in 1994 and married for the third time when Mandewla was 80 years old. Mandela decided not to stand for a second term and retired in 1999, to be succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.

Nobel Peace Prize - 1993, shared with Frederik Willem de Klerk

Order of Merit and the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II
Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush.                          
On 5 August 1962 Mandela was arrested after living on the run for seventeen months, and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort. The arrest was made possible because the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency - CIA, tipped off the security police as to Mandela's whereabouts and disguise. Three days later, the charges of leading workers to strike in 1961 and leaving the country illegally were read to him during a court appearance. On 25 October 1962, Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison. Two years later on 11 June 1964, a verdict had been reached concerning his previous engagement in the African National Congress - ANC.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he remained for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison.

Nelson Mandela belongs to a cadet branch of the Thembu dynasty, which reigns in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's Cape Province. He was born in Mvezo, a small village located in the district of Umtata, the Transkei capital.

Rolihlahla Mandela became the first member of his family to attend a school, where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the English name "Nelson".