Born at Mvezo on the banks of the Mbashe River in the Transkei to Nosekeni Fanny and Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (Chief Counsellor to the Chief of the Tembu clan).

His father is stripped of his chieftainship, after defying a magistrate, and loses his wealth. His mother moves to Qunu for support from friends and family. Baptised into the Methodist (Wesleyan) Church.

Attends the local one-roomed primary school near Qunu (receives the name ‘Nelson’ from school teacher Miss Mdingane).

His ailing father entrusts him to his close relative, the Regent Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, Paramount Chief of the Tembu.

Father dies.

Moves to the Great Place, Mqekezweni, where he shares a bungalow with the Regent’s son, Justice Bambilanga.

Enters initiation school at Tyhalarha, on the banks of the Mbashe River, and undergoes traditional circumcision.
                 
Goes to Clarkebury Boarding Institute in the district of Engcobo. Completes the Junior Certificate in two years instead of the usual three.

Goes to Healdtown, the Wesleyan College at Fort Beaufort.

Appointed prefect.
Wins a prize for his essay in isiXhosa.
Is inspired by the famous Xhosa poet Krune Mqhayi's visit to the school.
Graduates from Healdtown.

Enrolls at the University College of Fort Hare, in Alice – the only black university in South Africa.
Meets fellow student, Oliver Tambo, and becomes friends with his nephew Kaiser Matanzima.
Studies English, Anthropology, Politics, Native Administration, and Roman Dutch Law.
Aims to one day become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department.
Joins the Drama Department and acted in a play about Abraham Lincoln.
Joins Students' Christian Association.
Does ballroom dancing.

Elected to the Students’ Representative Council but resigned over his support for a student boycott regarding the ‘unsatisfactory diet’ at Fort Hare.

Expelled. Ignores the Regent’s order for him to apologise and return.

He and Justice run away to Johannesburg to escape arranged marriages. He becomes employed as a night watchman at Crown Mines. Is ordered by the Regent to return home and is dismissed.

Stays with a cousin, Garlick Mbekeni, in George Goch township, with whom he shared his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Mbekeni introduces him to Walter Sisulu, an estate agent in Johannesburg.

Moves in with Rev J Mabutho, of the Anglican Church, in 8th Avenue, Alexandra.

Moves in with the Xhoma family, in 46 7th Avenue, Alexandra.

Sisulu arranges with Lazar Sidelsky for him to do articles at the law firm Witkin, Sidelsky & Eidelman.

Meets Gaur Radebe, a Communist and colleague at the law firm.

He later works at the law firms Terblanche and Briggish (1951); Helman & Michel 1952) and H M Basner (1952).

Moves to the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA) compound, to be closer to work in downtown Johannesburg.

The Regent dies.

Completes his BA through the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Attends African National Congress (ANC) meetings with Radebe.

Marches, with Radebe, in support of the Alexandra Bus Boycott.

Returns to Fort Hare for his graduation.

Enrols for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Meets Joe Slovo, Ruth First, George Bizos, Bram Fischer, Harold Wolpe, Ismail Meer, Selma and Jules Browde.

Classmate Sarel Tighy (who later becomes a United Party Member of Parliament) moves to another seat when Mandela sits next to him in class.

Joins the ANC.

Founds the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) with Anton Lembede, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.

Marries Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase and they live next door to the writer Es’kia Mphahlele.

Is best man at the wedding of Walter Sisulu and Nontsikelelo Albertina Thetiwe.

His son Thembekile (Thembi) – with Evelyn Mase – is born.

The couple gets a three-roomed house without electricity (No 8115) in Orlando West, Soweto.

Their daughter, Makaziwe, is born, but dies after nine months.

Completes his articles.

Gets a loan from the Institute of Race Relations to study full-time.

Elected to the Executive of the Transvaal ANC.

Elected National Secretary of the ANCYL.

Visits Cape Town for the first time and stays three months.

Leaves the University of the Witwatersrand without an LLB.

His mother comes to Johannesburg for medical attention and stays with the couple.

The ANCYL takes control of the ANC.

Elected to the executive of the ANC.

Joins Donaldson Orlando Community Centre where he and Thembekile (Thembi) did boxing training.

Becomes Secretary of the International Club (Cinema Club).

Witnesses police brutality at a May Day gathering in Soweto. Eighteen are killed.

Makgatho Mandela born to Nelson Mandela and Evelyn Mase.

Elected President of the ANCYL.

Passes his driver's licence test.

Announcement of forthcoming Defiance Campaign with Mandela as Volunteer-in-Chief.

Defiance Campaign begins. Mandela is arrested and spends two nights in jail.

Elected President of the Transvaal Region of the ANC.

Opens his own law office with Zubeida Patel as his secretary.

Convicted by Justice FLH Rumpff, with Dr JS Moroka, Walter Sisulu and 17 others under the Suppression of Communism Act. Sentenced to nine months imprisonment with hard labour, suspended for two years.

Banned for six months (is forbidden from attending meetings, talking to more than one person at a time, and leaving Johannesburg without permission).

ANC's Annual Conference elects him as one of four Deputy Presidents.

Opens South Africa’s first black law firm with Oliver Tambo at Chancellor House in Johannesburg.

Shortly after his banning order expires, he is banned for two years.

Campaigns against the forced removals, under the Group Areas Act, from Sophiatown to Meadowlands.

Devises the M-Plan for the ANC’s future underground operations.

The Transvaal Law Society petitions the High Court to have him struck off the role because of his participation in the Defiance Campaign. Defended (at no cost) by Walter Pollack, QC, and William Aaronsohn. Justice Ramsbottom upheld his appeal.

Daughter Makaziwe is born.

Watches, from the edge of the crowd, with Sisulu, as the Congress of the People at Kliptown launches the Freedom Charter.

Banning order expires

Goes on holiday, for the first time since 1948, to Durban, Umzumkulu, Umtata (now Mthatha), Qunu, Mqhekezweni, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town (combining the trip with meeting ANC people)

While he is in jail for two weeks, Evelyn moves out

Briefly visits Transkei with Sisulu and buys some land. Shortly after returning to Johannesburg he is banned again, this time for five years.

Writes to the Minister of Justice asking for reasons for his bannings

Arrested in the early hours of the morning. By 15 December, 156 people have been arrested and are charged in the infamous 1956 Treason Trial (by its end in 1961 all the accused have been acquitted).

He and Evelyn Mase divorce.

Marries Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela in Bizana. His banning orders were relaxed, giving him six days out of Johannesburg.

Their first daughter, Zenani is born.

The ANC is banned, the country’s first state of emergency is imposed, and Mandela is one of thousands of people detained.

Burns his pass book

Defies banning orders to see an ill Makgatho in the Transkei and drives him back to Johannesburg for surgery.

Second daughter with Winnie is born, and is named Zindziswa (after the daughter of the Xhosa poet, Mqhayi).

Goes underground to attend the All-in Conference in Pietermartizburg. Says goodbye to all his children.

Acquitted, with the last remaining Treason Trial accused.

Does not return home after the trial ends. Goes underground and visits ANC leaders in Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town to mobilise for secret structures.

Dubbed ‘The Black Pimpernel’ by the media.

Lives with a family in Market Street, Johannesburg; with activist Wolf Kodesh; in the servant’s quarters of a doctor’s house where he pretends to be a gardener; and at a sugar plantation in Natal.

The ANC forms its armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), with Mandela as Commander-in-Chief. He sets up High and Regional Commands.

Moves to Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia.

Writes a letter from the underground proclaiming “the struggle is my life”.

MK launches officially with a series of explosions.

Smuggled out of the country for military training and goes to Tanganyika, Bechuanaland, Ethiopia, Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, and the UK.

Returns and visits Albert Luthuli in Groutville, Natal, with Cecil Williams, a white theatre director, posing as his chauffeur, David Motsamayi.

Arrested at a roadblock near Howick after an informer tips off police. Held at the Fort Prison and then transferred to Pretoria.

Makes famous speech ‘I am a black man in a white man’s court’.

Convicted of incitement and leaving the country illegally. Sentenced to five years in jail. Shouts ‘Amandla’ three times to his supporters in the public gallery, who responded by singing Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika.

Sent to Robben Island and put to hard labour.

Sent back to Pretoria to stand trial with other members of Umkhonto weSizwe [MK] after police raid Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, where the armed wing held secret meetings.

Charged with sabotage with Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Rusty Bernstein, Denis Goldberg, and James Kantor.

Mandela made a now famous statement from the dock in which Mandela he said: “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

All except Bernstein and Kantor are convicted.

All sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gets the prison number 466/64.

All but Denis Goldberg, who was the only white person in the group and was sent to prison in Pretoria, are flown to Robben Island.

Allowed one visitor and to write and receive only one letter every six months – no newspapers.

He and colleagues told to stop breaking rocks in the prison courtyard and to start sewing jerseys. (It was for the benefit of a reporter and photographer from the Daily Telegraph.)

Sent to work in the quarry.

First visit from Winnie Mandela.

Succeeds against the Transvaal Law Society which wants him struck off the roll.

Joins a hunger strike against poor prison conditions.

Second visit from Winnie Mandela.

Successfully appeals, with Wilton Mkwayi, against his listing as a ‘Communist’.

Helen Suzman visits.

Mother dies after a heart attack, just weeks after she visits him in prison. He is denied permission to attend her funeral.

Thembekile (Thembi) is killed in a car accident. Denied permission to attend his funeral.

First visit from Winnie Mandela in two years. She had been detained for five months (during which time she was tortured), jailed for 491 days, and then banned and put under house arrest.

Strip-searched and verbally abused by drunken warders.

Winnie Mandela and Peter Magubane are jailed for six months each for breaking their banning orders by communicating with each other.

Begins writing autobiography, which Laloo Chiba transcribes into tiny handwriting and is buried. Smuggled out by Mac Maharaj on his release in 1976.

Justice Minister Jimmy Kruger visits and offers to dramatically reduce his sentence if he recognizes Transkei as an independent state and agrees to be released there. The offer is rejected.

Winnie Mandela is banished to Brandfort in the Orange Free State. Her youngest daughter, Zindzi, who was at home with her at the time, accompanies her.

Media brought to Robben Island where they photograph and film Mandela and his colleagues without their permission.

Prison authorities start their own radio station for the prisoners (they are still not allowed to listen to other radio channels).

Taken to the mainland for medical treatment after foot injury.

Granted the right to receive newspapers.

Release Mandela petitions started.

Mandela, Sisulu, Mhlaba, and Mlangeni are moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland. They are joined a few months later by Kathrada.

Release Mandela Campaign established.

Visited by Lord Nicholas Bethell, a British politician, and Prof Samuel Dash, a US law professor.

President PW Botha offers to release Mandela if he renounces violence.

Zindzi reads out her father’s rejection of the offer at a United  Democratic (UDF) Front Rally at Soweto’s Jabulani Stadium. It ended with the words: “Only free men can negotiate…. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated… I will return.”

Admitted to Cape Town’s Volks Hospital for prostate surgery. Visited by Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee.

Kept apart from his colleagues when he returns to Pollsmoor.

Commonwealth Eminent Person’s Group (EPG) visit Mandela in Pollsmoor. The meeting is observed by Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee, and the Commissioner of Prisons, Lt Gen WH Willemse.

Another visit by the Commonwealth EPG – this time in Pollsmoor Prison’s guest house.

Mandela meets Kobie Coetsee at his official residence.

Resumes contact with Coetsee. Private discussions begin with a government team about future negotiations.

Govan Mbeki is released.

First formal meeting at Pollsmoor Prison with government group: Justice Minister, Kobie Coetsee; Commissioner of Prisons, Lt Gen WH Willemse; Director General of Prisons, Fanie van der Merwe, and head of the National Intelligence Service, Dr Niel Barnard.

Contracts tuberculosis and is admitted to Tygerberg Hospital where he spends six weeks after surgery to drain a lung.

Admitted to Constantiaberg MediClinic, a private hospital in Cape Town.

Moved to Victor Verster Prison.

Meetings with government group continued.

Visited by colleagues from Pollsmoor.

Meets PW Botha at his office, Tuynhuys.

PW Botha resigns. Replaced by FW de Klerk.

Kathrada, Sisulu, Mhlaba, Mlangeni are released.

Meets De Klerk at Tuynhuys.

President FW de Klerk unbans the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and other political organizations, and says that Mandela will be released.

De Klerk holds a press conference to announce that Mandela will be released the next day.

Thousands gather at Victor Verster Prison to witness Mandela walking through the prison gates.

Addresses a crowd from the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall.

Spends his first night of freedom, with Winnie Mandela, as guests of Archbishop Desmond Tutu at his official residence “Bishopscourt”.

Holds his first press conference in the garden of Bishopscourt.

Leaves Cape Town for Johannesburg where he spends that night in North Riding at the home of a supporter.

Flown by helicopter to FNB Stadium in Soweto to a ‘Welcome Home’ rally.

Returns to his house in Orlando.

Travels to Lusaka to meet the ANC, tours Africa, and then Sweden to see Oliver Tambo who is recovering from a stroke.

ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) names Mandela as ANC Deputy President.

Attends Namibia’s independence ceremony in Windhoek.

Meets FW de Klerk to discuss negotiations between the ANC and the government.

ANC holds talks with the government which result in the signing of the Groote Schuur Minute – an agreement on removing obstacles to negotiations.

Embarks on a six-week, 13-nation tour to Africa, Europe and North America.

Government and ANC sign the Pretoria Minute after two days of talks. It is an agreement about the release of political prisoners, the return of exiles, and the repeal of repressive laws. The ANC suspends the armed struggle.

Makes a speech alleging “a hidden hand” in the violence that was ravaging KwaZulu-Natal and Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging townships.

Meets Graça Machel in Maputo, Mozambique.

Meets Oliver Tambo on his return to South Africa.

Meets with Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, and the two agree to measures to end violence.

Meets with the PAC in Harare to discuss working together.

ANC pulls out of talks because of increasing violence in townships

Attends the summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Abuja, Nigeria, and then visits the UK and Belgium.

Elected ANC President at ANC’s 48th National Conference (Durban), the first inside the country in 30 years.

Visits Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil.

Signs the National Peace Accord with the Nationalist Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Attends the Patriotic Front Conference in Durban.

Visits West Africa

First meeting by the multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa).

Meets President George Bush (Snr).

Visits Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, France, and Switzerland.

Announces his separation from Winnie Mandela.

Joins De Klerk and Buthelezi to address an Easter gathering of more than a million members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) in Moria.

Second meeting of Codesa deadlocks over violence in townships.

Suggests de Klerk is personally responsible for the violence.

Outraged at the Boipatong Massacre, Mandela again suspends talks.

Addresses the UN Security Council and asked it to send violence monitors.

Attends the Olympic Games in Barcelona where South Africa has a team for the first time in 30 years.

Signs with de Klerk the Record of Understanding to break the deadlock in negotiations.

Addresses the nation on television after ANC and Communist Party leader, Chris Hani, is assassinated by Janus Walusz. Calls for calm and reminds the public that while Hani was killed by a white man, a white woman gave the killer’s registration number to police, enabling his arrest.

Demands an election date.

Causes a row with a public statement that 14-year-olds should be allowed to vote, but is quickly dissuaded.

Visits six US cities to raise support for the ANC’s election campaign.

Urges the lifting of economic sanctions against South Africa.

Is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with former President Mr FW de Klerk.

Publishes his autobiography,Long Walk to Freedom.

Meets with de Klerk, King Goodwill Zwelethini and Mangosuthu Buthelezi in an effort to bring the latter into the elections. The intervention fails but Buthelezi agrees, at the last minute, to participate after mediation by Kenyan academic, Washington Okumu.

Votes, for the first time in his life, at Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal.

Unanimously elected by Parliament as first president of a democratic South Africa.

Inaugurated as President.

Establishes the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and announces that he will give one-third of his salary to the fund.

Appointed the second Vice-President of the OAU at a meeting in Tunisia.

Opens the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein.

Fires Winnie Mandela from her Cabinet post. She is briefly reinstated and then dismissed.

Appoints Archbishop Desmond Tutu as Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Has tea with widows of politicians (National Party and struggle leaders).

Wears jersey of Springbok rugby captain and attends the World Cup Final, which South Africa wins.

Flies to the white enclave of Orania in the Northern Cape to visit the widow of Hendrik Verwoerd.

Divorced from Winnie Mandela.

Becomes the first foreigner to address Mali’s Parliament.

Handed over the ANC presidency to Thabo Mbeki at the ANC’s National Congress in Mafikeng.

Marries Graça Machel in a private ceremony on his 80th birthday.

Gives his last State of the Nation address. Steps down as President, fulfilling his promise to lead only for one term.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation set up as his office.

Speaks out against AIDS at the 13th International AIDS Conference.

Commended for his facilitation of Burundi/Arusha Peace Process.

Diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Condemns the US threat to invade Iraq.

Evelyn Mase dies, aged 82.

Retires from retirement and says: “Don’t call me, I will call you”.

Launched the Nelson Mandela Memory for Justice Programme.

Receives notebook of copies of his letters from ex-security policeman, Donald Card.

Makgatho Mandela dies. Mandela announces that he died of AIDS complications.

On Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People.

Launches a comic series on his life and quips: “You know you are famous the day you discover you have become a comic character.”