Nelson Mandela Timeline of Events

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Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress...

Timeline of Events

1962

8.5.1962

Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.

10.25.1962

Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison.

1964

6.12.1964

Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.

1980

6.10.1980

The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.

1990

2.2.1990

Apartheid: F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela.

2.11.1990

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.

3.2.1990

Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.

1994

5.10.1994

Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.