Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was born in 1918 and spent his early years in South Africa under apartheid before studying law and joining the African National Congress to fight against racial segregation and white minority rule. Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years from 1962 to 1990 for conspiring to overthrow the government but eventually negotiated with President F.W. de Klerk to end apartheid and bring democratic elections. After his release, Mandela received numerous honors including the Nobel Peace Prize for establishing a non-racial democracy in South Africa and reconciliation between whites and blacks.