Key dates in the life of Nelson Mandela

On the 100th anniversary of his birth, here are key dates in the life of the late anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president. 

• July 18, 1918: He is born into the Thembu royal family in the rural Transkei.
• 1943: Joins the African National Congress (ANC), co-founding its Youth League the following year.
• 1952: Mandela leads a campaign of defiance against the apartheid system, installed four years earlier. He and Oliver Tambo open the first black law firm in Johannesburg.
• 1958: Marries his second wife, anti-apartheid figure Winnie Madikizela, whom he divorces in 1996.
• 1961: Mandela and other activists are acquitted on treason charges laid five years earlier. The ANC launches its armed wing with Mandela as commander in chief.
• 1962: He is captured and sentenced to prison for incitement and leaving the country illegally.
• 1964: Mandela and other senior anti-apartheid leaders are tried and sentenced to life for sabotage. He is sent to Robben Island prison off Cape Town.
• 1985: Refuses pardon offered by president P. W. Botha on condition he renounce violence.
• 1990: After 27 years in jail, Mandela is released. 
• 1991: He is elected ANC president.
• 1993: Mandela and the last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk, are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1994: The ANC wins the first all-race elections and Mandela is inaugurated as president.
• 1998: Marries Graca Machel, widow of former Mozambican president Samora Machel.
• 1999: He steps down after one term.
• December 5, 2013: After months of intensive medical care, Mandela dies aged 95.

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