Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born July 18 in the year 1918. He was named Rolihlahla Mandela and got the name from his grandfather . Nelson is the name given to him by his teacher Miss Mdingane . He was born in Mveso , Umtata Cape Province . After the death of his father he was looked after by his relatives . He became the first child of the Mandela family to get an education . He was a smart kid and ended the Junior Certificate in two years instead of three .
Nelson took admission at the University of Fort Hare to do Bachelor in Arts but soon suspended as he joined the protest boycott . Done his graduation through correspondence from the University of South Africa . Mandela was a bright student and while in prison he studied and passed the Bachelor of Law degree from the University of London External Programme and in 1952 he started along the Tambo first legal firm for black South Africa .
In 1956 he was arrested for a disguise with 150 more blacks but they managed to flee in 1961 : to escape arrest him disguised in various forms . Even a tough non believer violence he formed MK guerrilla force to fight against apartheid . Finally he was sent to prison in 1962 and was imprisoned for 27 long years and was released in 1990 .
In 1994 he was elected the first South African president elected to full democratic elections . A simple president is well known for wearing Madiba shirts ( batik painted ) . He was 75 when he was elected president , the first president oldest .
Mandela has almost 250 prizes to his name . Some of them being Nobel Peace Prize , honorary Canadian citizen , Lenin Peace Prize and many others . His grades are distinguished from the University which is more than fifty from all over the world .