Nelson Mandela. Photo credit: Britannica
Nelson Mandela, South Africa
Considered by many as the father of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was the first black President of South Africa. He is remembered for his revolutionary quest for equality in South Africa, which suffered many years of apartheid rule. Since the early 1940s, Mandela led an anti-apartheid movement that brought to an end decades of racial discrimination against the black natives by the white colonialists.
During his reign, between 1994 and 1999, Mandela focused on destroying the legacy of apartheid by encouraging reconciliation between races and dismantling institutionalized racism. Although he was not able to completely eradicate racial hatred in South Africa, his efforts to unite the country and build cohesion enabled the Rainbow Nation to recover from the many years of hostility. Mandela died in 2013 aged 95.
