Former South African president, philanthropist and anti-aparthied revolutionary, Nelson Mandela has been honoured by Google with a doodle on the auspicious occasion of his 96th birthday.
Mandela, was the president of South Africa for a little over five years, from 10 May 1994 to 14 June 1999.
Google has decided to honour Mandela by making a doodle about him on their home page. This is an interactive doodle, and uses imagery with bits and pieces of Mandela's life story in it.
These imageries also include some of the most famous quotes by Mandela. Click here to read some of the most inspirational quotes by the anti-aparthied leader.
Mandela was born on 18 July, 1918 and was fiercely involved in politics, trying to oust colonialism from his country. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) early on, and also went on to become its President from 1991 to 1997.
He gained a lot of popularity long before he became the President of the ANC, especially during the Defiance Campaign, in 1952. He was convicted in 1962 for conspiring to overthrow the state. He remained imprisoned for 27 years, till 1990, when he was released.
He spent 18 years in the prison on Robben Islands, where he was kept in Section B, within a small damp concrete cell, barely big enough to contain a single person. He had to sleep on straw mats, and was regularly harrassed by many Prison Wardens, who were white.
During the day, he was made to break rocks into gravel, while working on his LLB degree at night. Newspapers were forbidden within the prison, and since he was frequently found with news clippings, he would often be thrown into solitary confinement. Throughout the 18 years in prison, he was allowed one visit and one letter every month.
Also known as Madiba, Mandela has been named the "Father of the Nation", in South Africa. More than his anti-colonial struggle, Mandela was well known for his fierce struggle against aparthied, and his campaigns to oust racism from his country.
