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Nelson Mandela, the revered icon of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle and a towering figure of 20th century politics, died Thursday aged 95.
The Nobel Peace laureate, who was elected South Africa's first black president after spending nearly three decades as a political prisoner, died at his Johannesburg home surrounded by his family, after a long battle against lung infection.
The news was announced to the nation and the world by a clearly emotional South African President Jacob Zuma in a live broadcast to the nation.
"Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation has departed," said Zuma, who was also imprisoned on Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela's life in pictures
"Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father."
Mandela was discharged from hospital in September, but continued to receive intensive care at home. He had a long history of lung problems after contracting tuberculosis while in jail.
After huddling around radios and televisions to hear the news, South Africans poured onto the streets near his home, walking arm-in-arm to join a crowd of hundreds singing songs celebrating his struggle against apartheid.
"My heart is full of joy and sadness at the same time," said Ashleigh Williams, one of those outside the house.
"He left a great legacy. I don't think anyone will ever be able to fill his shoes."
Video: Mandela, South Africa's icon of freedom and forgiveness, dies 

America's first black President Barack Obama led the worldwide tributes, hailing Mandela as a "profoundly good" man who "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu lauded his compatriot and fellow Nobel peace laureate as the man who taught a deeply divided nation how to come together.
"Over the past 24 years Madiba taught us how to come together and to believe in ourselves and each other. He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison," Tutu said.
"The sun will rise tomorrow, and the next day and the next... It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on."
Speaking on behalf of the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared Mandela a "giant for justice."
"Many around the world were influenced by his selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom. He touched our lives in deeply personal ways," Ban told reporters.
Mandela's extraordinary life story, quirky sense of humour and lack of bitterness towards his former oppressors ensured global appeal for the charismatic leader.
Once considered a terrorist by the United States and Britain for his support of violence against the apartheid regime, at the time of his death he was an almost unimpeachable moral icon.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years behind bars before being freed in 1990 to lead the African National Congress (ANC) in negotiations with the white minority rulers which culminated in the first multi-racial elections in 1994.
A victorious Mandela served a single term as president before taking up a new role as a roving elder statesman and leading AIDS campaigner before finally retiring from public life in 2004.
He was a global cause celebre during the long apartheid years, and popular pressure led world leaders to tighten sanctions imposed on South Africa's racist white minority regime.
In 1988 at a concert in Wembley stadium in London, tens of thousands sang "Free Nelson Mandela" as millions more watched on their television sets across the world.
Watch: Mandela's homeland: a microcosm of South Africa 

Born in July 1918 in the southeastern Transkei region, Mandela carved out a career as a lawyer in Johannesburg in parallel with his political activism.
He became commander-in-chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed wing of the by now-banned ANC, in 1961, and the following year underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia.
While underground back home in South Africa, Mandela was captured by police in 1962 and sentenced to five years in prison.
He was then charged with sabotage and sentenced in 1964 to life in prison at the Rivonia trial, named after a Johannesburg suburb where a number of ANC leaders were arrested.
He used the court hearing to deliver a speech that was to become the manifesto of the anti-apartheid movement.
"During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society.
"It is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
He was first sent to prison on Robben Island, where he spent 18 years before being transferred in 1982 to Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town and later to Victor Verster prison in nearby Paarl.
When he was finally released on February 11, 1990, walking out of prison with his fist raised alongside his then-wife Winnie.
Ex-prisoner 46664 was entrusted with the task of persuading the new president F.W. de Klerk to call time on the era of racist white minority rule.
Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their role in the ending of apartheid.
Derived from the Afrikaans word for "apartness," apartheid was a brutally enforced system that discriminated politically and economically against "non-whites" and separated the races in schools, buses, housing and even public toilets and beaches.
After the ANC won the first multi-racial elections, Mandela went out of his way to assuage the fears of the white minority, declaring his intention to establish "a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world."
Critics said his five-year presidency was marred by corruption and rising levels of crime. But his successors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, have never enjoyed anywhere near the same levels of respect or affection.
In retirement, he focused his efforts on mediating conflicts, most notably in Burundi, as well as trying to raise awareness and abolish the taboos surrounding AIDS, which claimed the life of his son Makgatho.
His divorce from second wife Winnie was finalised in 1996.
He found new love in retirement with Graca Machel, the widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Machel, whom he married on his 80th birthday.
In one of his last foreign policy interventions, he issued a searing rebuke of George W. Bush on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, calling him "a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust".
Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton perhaps had a higher opinion of Mandela.
"Every time Nelson Mandela walks in a room we all feel a little bigger, we all want to stand up, we all want to cheer, because we'd like to be him on our best day," he said.
Mandela is survived by three daughters, 18 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. He had four step-children through his marriage to Machel.
His death has left his family divided over his wealth. Some of his children and grandchildren are locked in a legal feud with his close friends over alleged irregularities in his two companies.
Watch: Afrikaners divided about Mandela's legacy

Yet since apartheid ended, South Africa has held four parliamentary elections and elected three presidents, always peacefully, setting an example on a continent where democracy is still new and fragile. Its democracy has flaws, and the African National Congress has struggled to deliver on promises.
It is a front runner ahead of 2014 elections, but corruption scandals and other missteps have undercut some of the promise of earlier years.
"We have confounded the prophets of doom and achieved a bloodless revolution. We have restored the dignity of every South African," Mandela said shortly before stepping down as president in 1999 at age 80.


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Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, 20th century colossus and beloved statesman, dies at 95

Tributes have poured in for former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has died. Photo: AFP

Former South African President Nelson Mandela. Photo: Reuters

China pays tribute to Mandela, an 'old friend of the Chinese people'

Nelson Mandela, pictured with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin in 1999, has been praised by both the government and Chinese citizens. Photo: Reuters

Nelson Mandela at the Great Wall of China: Photo: ANC Archive/ANC

Awestruck over lunch with a legend: a personal memory of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela meets Bonny Schoonakker. Photo: Bonny Schoonakker

Photo: Reuters

Mandela at the Great Wall on a visit to China. Photo: ANC

Heng's view

Nelson Mandela understood the power of sport to unite his nation

Nelson Mandela presents the William Webb Ellis Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar after his team defeated New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in 1995. Photo: Reuters

Nelson Mandela meets British footballer David Beckham in 2003. Photo: Reuters

Nelson Mandela: A long walk to freedom in video

A file photo taken on March 15, 1994 shows the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Nelson Mandela raising a clenched fist to supporters upon his arrival for an election rally ahead of the country's first democratic and multiracial general elections. (source: AFP)

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World

'Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.'


Tributes have poured in for Nelson Mandela, one of the world's most beloved statesmen and a colossus of the 20th century when he emerged from 27 years in prison to negotiate an end to white minority rule in South Africa, who has died. He was 95.


Nelson Mandela, 20th century colossus and beloved statesman, dies at 95

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'Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.'