Parallel Worlds: Arts and Sciences

This is a comprehensive list of awards, honours and other recognitions bestowed on Nelson Mandela . Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Nelson Mandela was once regarded as a terrorist but he is now regarded as uncontroversial. From 1994 to 1999, Mandela was President of South Africa . He was the first such African to be elected in fully representative democratic polls. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti- apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe . He spent 27 years in prison, much of it in a cell on Robben Island the rest of the time he spent in Pollsmoor Prison , on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, his switch to a policy of reconciliation and negotiation helped lead the transition to multi-racial democrac