Robben Island Museum | Cape Town Tourism home chevron_right See and Do chevron_right Arts & Culture chevron_right Heritage & History chevron_right Robben Island Museum Premium Member Robben Island Museum Robben Island is famous, or rather infamous, as the holding place for the imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Mandela served 18 of his 27 years in prison incarcerated on the island’s prison, but Robben Island has also housed a hospital, mental institution, leper colony and military base during its rich history. Now, Robben Island is a World Heritage Site and museum, offering daily tours. The tour begins at the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront with a multimedia exhibition, museum shop and restaurant, after which, guests hop onto the ferry for a scenic trip to the island. Once on Robben Island itself, the tour is guided by a former political prisoner of the island, for unique and incomparable insights into the island’s history.

Highlights: Ferry tour from V&A Waterfront to Robben Island See where Nelson Mandela served the majority of his sentence Island tour guided by a former political prisoner Enquire Now close Enquiry Form Please complete this form and a Cape Town Tourism representative will contact you shortly or call us at 0861322223 Cancel Your enquiry was successfully sent. A Cape Town Tourism representative wil be in contact shortly. close Celebrate Heritage Day in Cape Town South Africa has 11 official languages and their corresponding cultures and still more unofficial ones that identify as South African. This makes for a melting pot of variety, one that has earned South Africa the fond nickname “Rainbow Nation”. So, it is only right that a public holiday be set… Local culture and cuisine at Richard’s The brainchild of Richard Loring, producer of the internationally-acclaimed African footprint, and Roland Seidel, Richard’s Supper Stage & Bistro is a truly home grown Cape Town affair, using the city’s unique, and colourful history, as the basis to the venue’s signature show – Kaapse Stories.

Richard’s is a favourite for… Discover Cape Town’s rich cultural heritage Cape Town is a melting pot of people and cultures and the city’s diverse heritage can be explored through its historical architecture and colourful cuisine. Get started here… SAN Although the San people were the original inhabitants of South Africa, they were systematically marginalised and eradicated by a series of… Cape Town’s Military Heritage Route As the oldest city in South Africa, Cape Town has a rich, if turbulent, history and the military plays a large part in the Mother City’s story. On September 1, the City of Cape Town launched the official Military Heritage Route. Comprising of three properties – the Castle of Good… Robben Island | South African History Online South African History Online Robben Island Timeline 1400-1999 Archives UWC - Robben Island Mayibuye Archives Robben Island Unesco declared Robben Island in the Western Cape a World Heritage Site in 1999. Robben Island is located in Table Bay, some 6km west of Bloubergstrand, and stands some 30m above sea level.

Robben Island has been used as prison and a place where people were isolated, banished and exiled to for nearly 400 years. It was also used as a post office, a grazing ground, a mental hospital and an outpost. Initially the island was inhabited by a variety of wild life, including birds, penguins, seals and tortoises. Its name "robben" is derived from the Dutch, meaning a seal. It also had a plentiful supply of fresh water available from a number of springs. Batolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer, 'discovered' the island in 1488 when he anchored his ship in Table Bay. Before 1652, In place of dealings with the indigenous residents on the mainland, most visiting ships to Table Bay preferred to land on Robben Island to replenish their supplies of fresh water and meat. As a result it also became a major point for the exchange of mail, where letters from an outgoing ship would be left underneath an inscribed stone for collection and delivery by a home-going vessel.

This continued after Jan van Riebeeck arrived at the Cape in 1652, as he had to settle a station where ships that were travelling from Europe to the East Indies, he did not want to stop on the mainland, could get fresh food and water. There were plenty of seals, tortoises and penguins for hunting. The Dutch also began to use the island as a grazing station for sheep and cattle. Prisoners lined up on arrival at Robben Image source However, the islands potential as a convict station did not go unnoticed, and in about 1671 the Dutch began to place their convicted criminals upon it. It was only a matter of time before this courtesy was extended to political prisoners and other "undesirables" banished to the Cape from other Dutch colonies. In fact the Dutch government sent kings, princes and religious leaders from the East Indies to Robben Island as prisoners because they did not agree with the Dutch rule in their country. When the British annexed the Cape in 1806 they continued this practice.

During the first British occupation of the Cape, from 1795 to 1802, whaling activities were begun in Table Bay, and after their return in 1806 a whaling station was located on Robben Island. However it soon became apparent that this offered convicts an easy escape route, and it was closed down in 1820. In 1812 the first attempt was made to use the island as an asylum for the mentally ill, and in 1843 the Colonial Secretary, John Montagu, put forward a plan to use it as a colony for lepers, paupers, the mentally unfit and the chronically ill. The plan also provided for the removal of the penal colony to the mainland where convict labour could be used more productively on government projects, such as road-building. This plan was accepted and by 1845 the island had become a home for the Colony's unwanted and unloved, those deemed to be 'mentally ill' in those days could include the homeless, alcoholics, people who were to sick or old to work and prostitutes with sexually transmitted diseases.

Those unfortunates were often subjected to treatment, which was unhealthy and inhumane even by the standards of that time, and conditions on the island became the subject of constant complaint from progressive clergy and medical staff. Although some improvements were implemented over time, the island's lazaretto was only closed down in 1931. The lighthouse on Robben Island was commissioned in January 1865. The circular tower, designed by the Colonial Engineer, John Scott Tucker, was built in stone quarried locally, and stood 18m high. The 1875 census indicated that Robben Island had a population of 552. In 1891 this number had risen to 702, and by 1904 it stood at 1,460. Aerial view of Robben Island with Table Mountain in the background. After 1931 all the 'patients' were sent to hospitals in the Cape and the island began to be used as a military outpost before WW II. Guns were stored there and the government built roads, a power station, a new water supply and houses. In 1961 it started being used as a prison again.

During apartheid many Black people were kept on Robben Island as political prisoners. Former President Nelson Mandela was kept there. The prison internationally notorious for its harsh conditions and when the political prisoners of the apartheid government were released Robben Island became a symbol of the strength of the human spirit. Robben Island was declared a World Heritage Site because the buildings on the island are a reminder of its sad history and because the same buildings also show the power of the human spirit, freedom and the victory of democracy over oppression. Last updated : 02-Dec-2016 Robben Island Prison Tour - Google Arts & Culture Robben Island Prison Tour Street View Tour Guided by Former Political Prisoner Vusumsi Mcongo Arrival at Robben Island Welcome to Robben Island, South Africa - home to the infamous prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years, along with over 3,000 political prisoners during their fight to end Apartheid. Apartheid (literally "apart-hood" in Afrikaans) was a system of racial segregation enforced by the ruling National Party of South Africa from 1948-1994.

The island is a national and UNESCO World Heritage site 9 kilometers offshore from Cape Town. Today, it is one of South Africa's most visited sites, accessed by ferry from the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. The journey across Table Bay takes approximately 40 minutes. On disembarking from the ferry at the Main Quay, you are greeted by an exhibition of photos portraying the history of the island, which you can peruse as you make your way to the prison buildings and the start of the formal tour. The Robben Island prison gate was constructed by political prisoners using stone from one of two quarries on the island where prisoners were required to labor in the harsh conditions. The grey slate was taken from the blue quarry. The message "We Serve With Pride" appears in two languages: English and Afrikaans. It is framed on the left by the coat of arms of and on the right, a shield decorated with a lily, the symbol of Robben Island. INTRODUCTION Meet Vusumsi Mcongo, a Freedom Fighter in the anti-Apartheid movement was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1978-1990. All tours of the island are conducted by ex-prisoners. Mr.

Mcongo will guiding us on this virtual tour of the Maximum Security prison. As we approach the prison, you can see one of many guard towers to the left. These were manned 24 hours, even though it was nearly impossible to escape from the island, the only way being by boat or a cold 9km swim. This would have been the view the guard had from the inside of the tower. You can see Table Mountain in the far distance. Anyone wishing to enter the prison would use the knocker on the door to call the guard. The guard would then peer through the spyglass before unlocking the door. All prisoner letters - received and sent - were strictly controlled by the Censor's Office. The prison censors would cut or black out any content that was deemed undesirable. In the 1960s, prisoners could only read and receive letters written in the official languages recognized by the state - either Afrikaans or English. Communications in Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and other languages were forbidden at first. Prisoners received medical treatment by doctors in the Hospital Ward, which was often favoured due contact with fellow prisoners.

The courtyard of Section B, where Mandela was housed, is where he and fellow prisoners would eat breakfast, exercise and do manual labour tasks, such as chiseling rock, assigned to the prisoners. View from the middle of the Section B courtyard. Note the covered walkway at the end of view. From here the warders would maintain constant surveillance on the prisoners below. Mandela also gardened a small plot here, and secretly began writing his famous autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. The political prisoner Jeff Masemola (aka "Bra Jeff or "Brother Jeff") - a leader of the Pan Africanist Congress - also gardened tomatoes here. He was "in and out of B Section" recalls Mr. Mcongo because he confronted the warders about prisoner rights and conditions. This space was also the location for competitive sports at different times in the prison history. This prison corridor separated different sections of the prison, and was avoided, as prisoners were not allowed to have contact with those in other sections. Let's now walk into B Section, which housed mostly political prisoners and where Nelson Mandela's prison cell is. Mandela's Cell Following the Rivonia Trial, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison.

He was sent to Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 18 years,1964-1982. Mandela was kept with many other, mostly political prisoners in Section B, each in their own cell to avoid conversation. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in this 2 x 2 meter cell. Mandela rolled and unrolled his bedding each night as the majority of space in the tiny cell was taken up by his desk and book shelves. Nelson Mandela's Cell ca. 1971 A folded jacket rests on the top of the sleeping mat in the corner. A fellow prisoner constructed additional shelves for Mr. Mandela's books and papers from cardboard, match boxes and plastic. Prisoners were only given one board upon which to shelve their possessions. Cells of other political prisoners were similar in size to Mr. Mandela's as suggested by this view of fellow inmate Lungelo Dwaba's cell. Mr. Dwaba was incarcerated at Robben Island from 1964 to 1979. Prison Labor Prisoners were forced to perform hard labor in the island's quarries, in use on since the 17th century.

The infamous Lime Quarry is located at the center of the island while the Blue Stone Quarry was located Work in both areas was extremely harsh. Prisoners performed long hours of enforced labour smashing stone in the lime quarry. Mandela and many other prisoners, suffered permanent eye damage from the glare off of the white stone. There were also other quarries on the island where prisoners were put to work, such as this bluestone slate quarry, now a favourite bathing spot for the local penguins. Under global media scrutiny, the Apartheid government invited journalists to tour the island, asserting that prison conditions were not harsh. Black political prisoners who typically worked in the quarry in shorts, were given long trousers (usually reserved for Indian and other Asian prisoners under Apartheid prison regulations). To spread positive propaganda the prisoners were relocated to work in the garden on the day of the journalists' visit. Photograph of Nelson Mandela taken by the international media during their visit. This and other photographs and film footage appeared across the world. In letters to the head of the prison system, Mr. Mandela protested this unannounced visit and subsequent publication of images without prisoners' consent as an invasion of privacy.

Communal Areas Prisoners were generally discouraged from mixing, but did have opportunity to have meals together, swap library books and, from time to time, watch a film. When granted time out of doors, they played football, tennis, table tennis, and other competitive sports. Our guide and ex-political prisoner Vusumsi Mcongo worked in the kitchen where encoded messages were often smuggled between prisoners. This was the recreational hall, where table tennis and pool was played and movies were sometimes shown. It also served as a library, where prisoners could take out books. This table tennis certificate was awarded to Benson (Ben) Fihla for highy commendable performance in the sport between 1972-13. Indeed, this was one of two table tennis awards given to Ben Fhila on one day. Prisoners' award certificates were hand drawn and lettered by fellow inmates on precious sheets of A4 paper. Exterior view of the kitchen and dining halls. Similar to the gateway and watch towers, these buildings were also built of blue stone slate quarried on the island. Football was a popular and highly competitive sport among prisoners, who formed their own league with a binding constitution.

The document is preserved in the Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archive at University of the Western Cape. The prison league strictly adhered to FIFA regulations and principles and won FIFA recognition for their struggle and adherence to governing principles. Ex-political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale's football trophy won at a soccer tournament at the prison during his incarceration. The trophy was made by prisoners to symbolize the will to survive, live and be victorious. Robben Island Museum Places To Stay | Robben Island Accommodation Robben Island Accommodation Robben Island Information Quick Guide "Today when I look at Robben Island, I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit, rather than as a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls… '" Nelson Mandela This famous little windswept island has captured hearts and minds around the globe in recent history. Situated just a few kilometers from the glitzy Waterfront, it was "home" to Nelson Mandela for almost 20 years.

The intention to silence anti-apartheid leaders by imprisoning them on Robben Island had the opposite effect and the island became a focal point for international resistance to the apartheid regime. Today it has become a symbol of freedom, the transformative power of forgiveness and a place of political pilgrimage. Showing 1 to 25 of 25 Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison - BBC News BBC News Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison By Mike Wooldridge BBC News, World affairs correspondent 11 December 2013 Close share panel Media captionThe BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports the moment Mandela is released from prison "I went for a long holiday for 27 years," Nelson Mandela once said of his years in prison. It was another example of the dry, razor-sharp and often self-deprecating humour for which South Africa's first black president was famous. The prison years ended in a cottage he had to himself in the garden of a jail near Cape Town then known as Victor Verster - with TV, radio, newspapers, a swimming pool and any visitors he wanted. But he was still in prison.

And the greatest number of years that he was in prison - 18 out of 27 - were spent on Robben Island, where the contrast could not have been greater. Banishment The notorious island, within sight of the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain, acquired its name from the seals that once populated it in multitudes - robben being the Dutch word for seal. Its three centuries as a prison island and a place of banishment were punctuated by a period as a leper colony. Image caption The longest spell of his prison life was spent on Robben Island A warder's first words when Nelson Mandela and his ANC comrades arrived were: "This is the Island. This is where you will die." They faced a harsh regime in a new cell block constructed for political prisoners. Each had a single cell some seven foot square around a concrete courtyard, with a slop bucket. To start with, they were allowed no reading materials. They crushed stones with a hammer to make gravel and were made to work in a blindingly bright quarry digging out the limestone.

Fellow prisoner Walter Sisulu spoke of a day Nelson Mandela's emerging leadership among the inmates was displayed in a rebellion over the quarry: "The prison authorities would rush us…'Hardloop!' That means run. One day they did it with us. It was Nelson who said: 'Comrades let's be slower than ever.' It was clear therefore that the steps we were taking would make it impossible ever to reach the quarry where we were going to. They were compelled to negotiate with Nelson. That brought about the recognition of his leadership." Image caption Conditions on the island were difficult Prisoner 46664, as he was known - the 466th prisoner to arrive in 1964 - would be the first to protest over ill-treatment and he would often be locked up in solitary as punishment. "In those early years, isolation became a habit. We were routinely charged for the smallest infractions and sentenced to isolation," he wrote in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom. "The authorities believed that isolation was the cure for our defiance and rebelliousness." "I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life.

There was no end and no beginning; there is only one's own mind, which can begin to play tricks." Image caption Access to books was sometimes limited - this complete works of Shakespeare was shared by Mandela, who signed this passage from Julius Caesar, as well as other inmates Still, his determination and wit were clearly undiminished. His lawyer George Bizos saw it at first hand. "On my first visit to Robben Island he was brought to the consulting room by no less than eight warders, two in front, two on each side and two at the back… in shorts and without socks. And the thing that was odd about it is that, unlike any other prisoner I have ever seen, he was setting the pace at which this group was coming towards the consulting room. And then with all gravitas he said 'You know, George, this place really has made me forget my manners. I haven't introduced you to my guard of honour'." University behind bars After the first few months on the island, life settled into a pattern. "Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other," Mr Mandela wrote.

Image caption A portrait of Mandela now hangs in what was Victor Verster prison... Image caption ... and his statue stands outside the gates Over time, and varying according to who was running the prison, so-called privileges would be granted. Those who wanted could apply for permission to study. Although some subjects such as politics and military history were forbidden, Robben Island became known as a "university behind bars". ANC and Communist Party stalwart Mac Maharaj remembers it as a cause of a falling out with Nelson Mandela. "He was urging let us study Afrikaans and I was saying no way - this is the language of the damn oppressor. He persuaded me by saying,' Mac, we are in for a protracted war. You can't dream of ambushing the enemy if you can't understand the general commanding the forces.

You have to read their literature and poetry, you have to understand their culture so that you get into the mind of the general.' "Here he was showing right at the outset this focus of thinking of the other side, understanding them, anticipating them and so at the end of the day understanding how to accommodate them." When Nelson Mandela reflected on his Robben Island experiences on returning there in 1994 he said: "Wounds that can't be seen are more painful than those that can be seen and cured by a doctor. One of the saddest moments of my life in prison was the death of my mother. The next shattering experience was the death of my eldest son in a car accident." He was refused permission to attend either funeral. Image caption Mandela was said to be overwhelmed by the crowds who welcomed his release Nelson Mandela's letters from prison to his second wife Winnie are poignant in the way they show the price paid for his total immersion in the anti-apartheid struggle, as is her account of this period. Left to raise their children alone, Winnie once described the impact of taking them to see him in prison: "Taking them at that age to their father - their father of that stature - was so traumatic.

It was one of the most painful moments actually. And I could see the strain on my children both before their visit and for quite some time after they had some contact with their father." War of attrition By the time Nelson Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland, he was the world's most famous but perhaps least recognisable political prisoner. No contemporary photograph of him had been seen for years. The late anti-apartheid activist Amina Cachalia, who had known him well before he went into prison, visited him. She told me she had taken a small camera into the prison with her, and as they had lunch she reached for her bag and said she was going to take a picture of him. He held her by the arm and shook his head. She said Nelson Mandela was afraid they would confiscate the camera and terminate the visit. Amina Cachalia laughed at the thought of the impact her photograph would have had. "He deprived me of being a millionairess," she joked. Image caption Robben Island is now a tourist destination Fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada recalled that in Pollsmoor in 1985, Nelson Mandela was called to the prison office and then returned to his ANC colleagues and started reading the newspapers.

After a few minutes he said to them: "Oh by the way chaps, I was told President Botha has offered to release us." "After 20 years or more of us being in prison and that's how cool he was… 'By the way this has happened'," Mr Kathrada told me. "We didn't even have to mull over it and that very night he wrote the letter. We all read through it and signed it, rejecting the offer." Even though later Nelson Mandela was to have many meetings with the government and to be moved to the more comfortable conditions of his villa at Victor Verster prison - attending Sunday services, playing chess, teaching political economy to his fellow prisoners - he always sought to give the ANC exiled leadership no cause to be suspicious of his intentions and refused to put his own freedom before that of others and before the goals of the movement. Ahmed Kathrada told me that Nelson Mandela fought a war of attrition in everything. In prison, he once played chess against a medical student who had just come in for five years. "They played for many hours in one day and they had to ask the warders to lock the chessboard up in the cell next door.

They continued the next day and each move was so slow this was a war of attrition. After a few hours the young chap said 'Look, you win. Just take your victory.' He wins." Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison - BBC News BBC News Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison By Mike Wooldridge BBC News, World affairs correspondent 11 December 2013 Close share panel Media captionThe BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports the moment Mandela is released from prison "I went for a long holiday for 27 years," Nelson Mandela once said of his years in prison. It was another example of the dry, razor-sharp and often self-deprecating humour for which South Africa's first black president was famous. The prison years ended in a cottage he had to himself in the garden of a jail near Cape Town then known as Victor Verster - with TV, radio, newspapers, a swimming pool and any visitors he wanted. But he was still in prison. And the greatest number of years that he was in prison - 18 out of 27 - were spent on Robben Island, where the contrast could not have been greater.

Banishment The notorious island, within sight of the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain, acquired its name from the seals that once populated it in multitudes - robben being the Dutch word for seal. Its three centuries as a prison island and a place of banishment were punctuated by a period as a leper colony. Image caption The longest spell of his prison life was spent on Robben Island A warder's first words when Nelson Mandela and his ANC comrades arrived were: "This is the Island. This is where you will die." They faced a harsh regime in a new cell block constructed for political prisoners. Each had a single cell some seven foot square around a concrete courtyard, with a slop bucket. To start with, they were allowed no reading materials. They crushed stones with a hammer to make gravel and were made to work in a blindingly bright quarry digging out the limestone. Fellow prisoner Walter Sisulu spoke of a day Nelson Mandela's emerging leadership among the inmates was displayed in a rebellion over the quarry: "The prison authorities would rush us…'Hardloop!' That means run. One day they did it with us.

It was Nelson who said: 'Comrades let's be slower than ever.' It was clear therefore that the steps we were taking would make it impossible ever to reach the quarry where we were going to. They were compelled to negotiate with Nelson. That brought about the recognition of his leadership." Image caption Conditions on the island were difficult Prisoner 46664, as he was known - the 466th prisoner to arrive in 1964 - would be the first to protest over ill-treatment and he would often be locked up in solitary as punishment. "In those early years, isolation became a habit. We were routinely charged for the smallest infractions and sentenced to isolation," he wrote in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom. "The authorities believed that isolation was the cure for our defiance and rebelliousness." "I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There was no end and no beginning; there is only one's own mind, which can begin to play tricks." Image caption Access to books was sometimes limited - this complete works of Shakespeare was shared by Mandela, who signed this passage from Julius Caesar, as well as other inmates Still, his determination and wit were clearly undiminished.

His lawyer George Bizos saw it at first hand. "On my first visit to Robben Island he was brought to the consulting room by no less than eight warders, two in front, two on each side and two at the back… in shorts and without socks. And the thing that was odd about it is that, unlike any other prisoner I have ever seen, he was setting the pace at which this group was coming towards the consulting room. And then with all gravitas he said 'You know, George, this place really has made me forget my manners. I haven't introduced you to my guard of honour'." University behind bars After the first few months on the island, life settled into a pattern. "Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other," Mr Mandela wrote. Image caption A portrait of Mandela now hangs in what was Victor Verster prison... Image caption ... and his statue stands outside the gates Over time, and varying according to who was running the prison, so-called privileges would be granted. Those who wanted could apply for permission to study.

Although some subjects such as politics and military history were forbidden, Robben Island became known as a "university behind bars". ANC and Communist Party stalwart Mac Maharaj remembers it as a cause of a falling out with Nelson Mandela. "He was urging let us study Afrikaans and I was saying no way - this is the language of the damn oppressor. He persuaded me by saying,' Mac, we are in for a protracted war. You can't dream of ambushing the enemy if you can't understand the general commanding the forces. You have to read their literature and poetry, you have to understand their culture so that you get into the mind of the general.' "Here he was showing right at the outset this focus of thinking of the other side, understanding them, anticipating them and so at the end of the day understanding how to accommodate them." When Nelson Mandela reflected on his Robben Island experiences on returning there in 1994 he said: "Wounds that can't be seen are more painful than those that can be seen and cured by a doctor. One of the saddest moments of my life in prison was the death of my mother.

The next shattering experience was the death of my eldest son in a car accident." He was refused permission to attend either funeral. Image caption Mandela was said to be overwhelmed by the crowds who welcomed his release Nelson Mandela's letters from prison to his second wife Winnie are poignant in the way they show the price paid for his total immersion in the anti-apartheid struggle, as is her account of this period. Left to raise their children alone, Winnie once described the impact of taking them to see him in prison: "Taking them at that age to their father - their father of that stature - was so traumatic. It was one of the most painful moments actually. And I could see the strain on my children both before their visit and for quite some time after they had some contact with their father." War of attrition By the time Nelson Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland, he was the world's most famous but perhaps least recognisable political prisoner. No contemporary photograph of him had been seen for years. The late anti-apartheid activist Amina Cachalia, who had known him well before he went into prison, visited him.

She told me she had taken a small camera into the prison with her, and as they had lunch she reached for her bag and said she was going to take a picture of him. He held her by the arm and shook his head. She said Nelson Mandela was afraid they would confiscate the camera and terminate the visit. Amina Cachalia laughed at the thought of the impact her photograph would have had. "He deprived me of being a millionairess," she joked. Image caption Robben Island is now a tourist destination Fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada recalled that in Pollsmoor in 1985, Nelson Mandela was called to the prison office and then returned to his ANC colleagues and started reading the newspapers. After a few minutes he said to them: "Oh by the way chaps, I was told President Botha has offered to release us." "After 20 years or more of us being in prison and that's how cool he was… 'By the way this has happened'," Mr Kathrada told me. "We didn't even have to mull over it and that very night he wrote the letter.

We all read through it and signed it, rejecting the offer." Even though later Nelson Mandela was to have many meetings with the government and to be moved to the more comfortable conditions of his villa at Victor Verster prison - attending Sunday services, playing chess, teaching political economy to his fellow prisoners - he always sought to give the ANC exiled leadership no cause to be suspicious of his intentions and refused to put his own freedom before that of others and before the goals of the movement. Ahmed Kathrada told me that Nelson Mandela fought a war of attrition in everything. In prison, he once played chess against a medical student who had just come in for five years. "They played for many hours in one day and they had to ask the warders to lock the chessboard up in the cell next door. They continued the next day and each move was so slow this was a war of attrition. After a few hours the young chap said 'Look, you win.

Just take your victory.' He wins." 10 Famous Prisons Around the World Round the World Travel Guide 10 Famous Prisons Around the World April 30, 2012 Alcatraz (photo: Jon Sullivan) This post was written in partnership with TravelSupermarket.com. The prisoners once housed in some of the world’s most notorious prisons could never have thought that their forbidding homes would one day become tourist attractions. These prisons were either home to famous prisoners, well-known from literature or synonymous with the kind of cruelty which gives them a macabre interest for visitors. Whatever the reasons, there are many such places now firmly on the tourist map. 1. Alcatraz, USA When considering famous prisons, Alcatraz is the one that springs most easily to mind. It is America’s best-known prison and was the country’s first maximum-security facility. Famous inmates include Al Capone and Robert ‘Birdman’ Stroud. The prison is situated on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay and considered to be impossible to escape from, although thirty-six men attempted it. Closed in 1963, the island and prison are now open to tourists.

Tours cost from between $28 and $60, depending on the length and type and include the boat trip out to the island. Visitors get a chance to see the cells and experience what it was like to be an inmate. There is also a popular night tour. Tower of London (photo: Robert Swinney) 2. The Tower of London, England Alcatraz only operated for twenty years, but one of the world’s most visited prisons was in use much longer. The Tower of London, home of Britain’s Crown Jewels, was once a notorious prison. Built in the 11th century, it was a prison up to the mid-20th century. This building has seen many famous prisoners, including Henry VI, Anne Boleyn and Rudolph Hess. A tour of the Tower includes a visit to the cells with interactive displays of prison life. Visitors can also see Tower Green, where executions took place. The Tower is open daily and costs from £17.60 to £20 for an adult. Family tickets are also available. Robben Island (photo: Rudiger Wolk) 3.

Robben Island, South Africa Robben Island in South Africa is known for one extremely famous prisoner – Nelson Mandela. Another island prison, it is seven miles off Cape Town. Although a prison for centuries, from 1959 it was a maximum-security facility for political prisoners. Over 3000 of them were held here between 1961 and 1991, including, of course, Nelson Mandela. The last prisoners left Robben Island in 1996 and in that year it became a museum and a national monument of South Africa. Tours cost R230 for adults and R120 for children. They take over three hours and include the return boat trip to the island plus a visit to the prison and a chance to talk to a former prisoner. Chateau d’If (photo: Jan Drewes) 4. Château d’If, France Nelson Mandela was a very real prisoner but another famous island prison was home to one of fiction’s best-known prisoners – the Count of Monte Cristo.

Château d’If is located off the coast of Marseille and even if the Count of Monte Cristo was fictional, it did hold many real prisoners from the mid 1600s to the end of the 1800s. Alexandre Dumas’s book, The Count of Monte Cristo, was based on the island and its success made Château d’If famous. Two adjacent cells are named after Edmond Dantes and Abbe Faria, the main characters in the book. Dantes escaped from the island in the story, though in reality nobody is believed to have done this. Ferries go to the island from Marseille and an individual return ticket will cost €5. Entrance to the Chateau is €5.50, though there are concession prices and family tickets. 5. Devil’s Island, French Guiana Another famous French prison is on Devil’s Island. This was also immortalised by a book and a film, though in this case the story is true. Devil’s Island is in the Caribbean, off the coast of French Guiana. It was open for 90 years from 1832 and around 80,000 prisoners spent time there.

As with all island prisons, it was designed to be almost impossible to escape from and the thick jungles and infested waters around it did make it so. Albert Dreyfus was imprisoned there, but Devil’s Island became famous when Henri Charriere, a former inmate, wrote a book about his own successful escape. The film ‘Papillon’ was made later. The prison closed in 1952 and the restored historic buildings became a tourist attraction. It is possible to take tours to the island and many visitors go there on an excursion from one of the many cruise ships that pass by. Holding cell in Elmina Castle (photo: Kurt Dundy) 6. Elmina Castle, Ghana The next two prisons are both famous for the same terrible reason. Both once housed slaves en route to the New World. The first one is Elmina Castle in Ghana. On the Cape Coast, just west of Accra, it was a holding prison for slaves for 300 years. As many as 200 people were kept in a cell at any one time. At its peak, over 30,000 slaves passed through its doors annually.

Elmina Castle reached worldwide fame when President Obama visited in 2009. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A tour of the castle with a guide costs around $0.50. Goree island (photo: Jean Luc Angrand) 7. Goree Island, Senegal Another UNESCO World Heritage Site is Goree Island in Senegal. This was also a holding prison for slaves and was known as the House of Slaves until the French abolition of slavery in 1848. Many African-Americans come here to find out more about their roots and it has also been visited by Nelson Mandela, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Goree Island also has a school, a university, Botanical Gardens and a museum of the history and culture of Senegal. Ferries are available from Dakar all day and run frequently. Prices are not expensive. Full-day tours can also be booked from Dakar. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Cells (photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen) 8. Tuol Sleng, Cambodia South East Asia is also home to two infamous prisons which are now tourist attractions. The first is Tuol Sleng in Cambodia.

The brutal Khmer Rouge opened this prison in 1975. It was only open for four years, but over 17,000 people passed through its gates in that time. Few made it out because it was a place of torture and execution. Tuol Sleng became a museum soon after its closure as a prison. It acts as a memorial to all those killed during the Khmer Rouge regime. The museum shows cells as they were in the time of the prison’s operation as well as photographic exhibits. The museum is just outside Phnom Penh and is open daily. There is no cost to go to the museum but donations are welcome. Hanoi Hilton (photo: Kelisi) 9. Hoa Lo Prison, Vietnam Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, Vietnam is nestled somewhat incongruously at the foot of an imposing high-rise in the city centre. Once a French prison, it was called the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ by the Americans imprisoned there during the Vietnam War. The most famous prisoner was US presidential candidate John McCain, whose flying suit is on display in the museum. The prison was originally built by the French for political prisoners and many of Vietnam’s leading independence fighters spent time there.

Exhibitions show the crude conditions that these prisoners lived in. There are also exhibitions relating to the American POWs but they don’t reflect the true horror related by those released after the end of the Vietnam War. The museum is open daily. The entrance is just 5000 dong. Port Arthur (photo: Dysprosia) 10. Port Arthur, Tasmania Finally, Port Arthur in Tasmania is another prison worth visiting. Once a penal colony, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It operated from 1833 until the 1850s and housed the most dangerous criminals. You can still visit the prison, the hospital, the church and the insane asylum. The prison was located on a peninsula surrounded by rough seas. With just a narrow strip of land known as Eaglehawk Neck connecting it to the mainland that was patrolled by vicious dogs, it was virtually impossible to escape from. There are various entrance fees valid for a half-day, full-day or two-day visit. The full-day and two-day passes include lunch and snacks. There is also a night tour which includes dinner. Related Mandela | Brand South Africa Brand South Africa A password will be e-mailed to you.

Recover your password Mandela: a life in books 28 Dec 2016 There are plenty of books about Nelson Mandela – written by himself, by people who knew him and by historians and journalists. Taken together, they tell a story of a life that towers above others, yet also reveal the more private experiences of the great man. Three years on: Madiba’s death, reflections from Ramaphosa 06 Dec 2016 On the third anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, the Nelson Mandela Foundation hosted “Mandela the Freedom Fighter and Mandela the Democracy Builder”.... Mandela Children’s Hospital finally opens 29 Nov 2016 The Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital, an idea that began with a vision by Nelson Mandela as far back as his presidency in the 1990s,... Champion Tree proclaimed in Johannesburg 18 Nov 2016 A tree that Nelson Mandela planted with his wife, Graça Machel, in 2008, in Soweto has been declared a Champion Tree by Johannesburg City... Mandela’s legacy lives on in each of us 22 Jul 2016 Education. Literacy. Food security. Shelter.

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14 Jul 2016 Johannesburg, Thursday 14 July 2016 – Former President Nelson Mandela remains one of the most enduring symbols of the South African nation brand. He... Life in Prison on Robben Island Video - ABC News ABC News Act 3: ABC News' Alex Marquardt describes the scene of mourning and celebration in South Africa. 3:00 | 12/06/13 Coming up in the next {{countdown}} {{countdownlbl}} Coming up next: More information on this video Enhanced full screen Video Transcript Transcript for Life in Prison on Robben Island Now we look at the life of the man who transformed himself, while behind bars and you spoke to a young jailer that became mandela's trusted friend behind bars. This was an incredible tale, the jailer warned he would guard south africa's most dangerous criminal but they would form a secret code. Reporter: Here in america, mount rushmore honors the fathers of our democracy. In south africa, there would be one face. Nelson mandela, a hero to millions whose devotion to the cause of freedom transformed south africa. Mandela was an immensely charismatic figure.

Tall, handsome, extroverted, had this fantastic smile, a smile that just lit up whatever room he went into. Reporter: But for 27 years, he spent most of his days a prisoner in this room. And it was there he would meet a young country boy, who started out mandela's enemy, but forged the least likely friendship in history. A prison guard named christo brand, who remembers took us to a hill overlooking robben island remembering what they warned him. That guard was just 18-year-old when he met his 60-year-old prisoner. When that jailer met mandela, he met an elder, who would treat the young white man with respect. And cristo would slowly offer the same in return. And that jailer told us of one of winnie mandela's visits, and her request she be allowed to show nelson mandela his brand new grand baby. She said can I please show nelson from a distance. Reporter: The jailer telling winnie, no children allowed. What she didn't know was while she waited in a holding area the jailer brought the baby to mandela. Tears were coming out of his eyes. Reporter: Nobody knew. Nobody knew.

Reporter: There would be many secrets between the jailer and his friend and the secret code I would show him this, and i would just start showing him this. Mandela immediately know I'm bugged. I was bugged a lot of times. Reporter: You lied to keep your job and to keep your friendship with mandela. That's correct. Reporter: During all of those isolating years on robben island, the prison guard said there was one view from the prison courtyard of the country nelson mandela loved, and that was the very top of table mountain, here in cape town behind me. That mandela would look to this view, wondering if he'd ever be free. But for mandela, his own freedom was always less important than that of the people of south africa, even as a young man. For if life is a series of choices, nelson mandela never took the easy ones. He was born into african royalty -- the son of a chief, but chose to become a lawyer for the poor.

I think not until he got to johannesburg where he felt the effects of prejudice for the first time, where -- where he felt, "my god, you're treating me like this." Reporter: His practice, the first black-run law firm in south africa, was flourishing, but he could not stay neutral against apartheid. A system that made blacks second class citizens, separate housing and schools. Crushing poverty. For more than three centuries we have lived at the most brutal system of racial oppression. Reporter: Mandela found his calling in the fight against apartheid. A south africa, where the white minority ruled a population that was nearly 90% black. And created divisions, committed untold massacres of innocent people because they wanted to be treated with dignity. His party, the african national congress, was committed to non violent resistance. But many of his own supporters would often ask why so many of their own paying the price. There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence against a government whose only reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.

Reporter: Peaceful resistance -- until the sharpeville massacre in 1960, when white police shot 69 unarmed protestors. The government branding the charismatic leader a terrorist. Mandela went underground. We have made it very clear in our policy that south africa is a country of many races. There is room for all the various races in this country. Reporter: By 1962 mandela's fight against apartheid landed him on trial for treason. He could have cooperated but instead, at trial, he gave a rallying speech heard around the world, captured by chance on a dictaphone. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Reporter: The power and defiance and eloquence of that statement really electrified the nation, electrified black south africa, electrified the world. Reporter: Sentenced to life in prison, mandela spent most of his 27 years behind bars in that cell on robben island.

Assigned to work in the quarry, shoveling rocks, raking stones, work many believe led to those weakened lungs. And to that suffering even in the end. The conditions were brutal. People were assaulted regularly. People were -- deprived of meals for two or three times a day. Prison was this great crucible that taught him self-control. Because you had to have it. Reporter: Mandela would study for years in the tiny prison library -- quietly asking that most unlikely friend, the jailor, to help teach him the language of the whites in power --afrikaans. He would write essays and there was a reason for this -- mandela famously said, "if you talk to a man in a language he understands that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." That's what he did. And that what he would strive for and that's what he was loved for and that's what he would fight for while he was in prison, to have people live in peace. To spend 27 years at the prime of your life is a tragedy. And I regret, you know, those years that I have wasted in prison.

But, I also had the opportunity of reading very widely, and especially biographies, and i could see what men, sometimes from very humble beginnings, were able to lift themselves with their bootstrings. Reporter: And there was something else he did while on robben island. We were given rare access to this tiny archive room in johannesburg where they have spent years pouring through the tender letters mandela wrote to his family, to his children while in prison. He walked out with it when he left prison, so he took it with him. Reporter: In that cell, lined with books, and the photograph of winnie -- the notebooks with first drafts of every letter. Every word carefully chosen because in the beginning he was allowed just one letter every six months. So he needed to know exactly what he wrote, so he doesn't waste space. Reporter: He wrote to his children about his dream of one day seeing them again. "I do not know, my darlings, when I will return. I told you that the white judge had said I should stay in jail for the rest of my life. It may be long before I come back. It may be soon.

Nobody knows it's his name, nelson mandela, and then his prison number, 466/64. Reporter: When we come back, nelson mandela is freed after 27 years. The lines that led to history. And years later, michelle obama's visit to south africa as first lady, in that room with This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. Nelson Mandela: South Africans know their country is free because he lived - Telegraph Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela: South Africans know their country is free because he lived Nelson Mandela, who has died aged 95, lived a unique life which transformed South Africa's history and touched millions worldwide 1960: On 21 March 1960, more than 5,000 people offered themselves up for arrest at the Sharpeville police station for not carrying their pass books.

Police panicked and opened fire, killing 69 Photo: MAGNUM By David Blair, Chief Foreign Correspondent 7:15AM GMT 06 Dec 2013 The theme running through Nelson Mandela’s life was his unshakeable belief that one human being can change the course of history dramatically for the better. In a bitterly divided South Africa , Mandela won the love of almost all his compatriots; in a sceptical age, he became perhaps the only genuinely global hero. Watch Mandela's 'walk to freedom' in 1990 Mandela understood that apartheid, which scarred South Africa for the first 75 years of his life, would not be laid low by guerrilla war, revolution or popular uprising. At various times, he favoured all of these; but in the loneliness of his Robben Island prison cell, he came to see that apartheid was an expression of the weakness and insecurity of white South Africans in general and of Afrikaners in particular. Related Articles South Africa's 1995 World Cup winners pay tribute 06 Dec 2013 Mandela realised that fear, rather than implacable racism, lay behind their opposition to black majority rule.

The key to ridding South Africa of the wicked absurdity of racial segregation was, he concluded, to persuade whites that democracy was in their interests as much as the black majority, and to show that they would be safe without apartheid. So Mandela set out to kill apartheid through persuasion and reconciliation. 1994: FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela address the huge huge group of people in front of the Union Building after the presidential inauguration ceremony “I learned,” he wrote in his memoirs, “that to humiliate another person is to make him suffer an unnecessarily cruel fate. I sought always to defeat my opponents without dishonouring them.” Defeating apartheid without dishonouring South Africa’s white inhabitants was Mandela’s crowning achievement. Nelson Mandela: life in pictures Today, few can remember how illusory a prospect this once seemed. An opinion poll conducted in 1985 found that 70 per cent of South Africans expected a civil war. During that dismal era, when PW Botha - the last of the unyielding Afrikaner leaders - held absolute power, the black townships were in flames and many hundreds of thousands simply voted with their feet by emigrating.

After all, Botha insisted that apartheid would continue into an indefinite future - and with Mandela behind bars and a negotiated settlement ruled out, South Africans genuinely feared their country was heading towards the abyss of racial conflict. 1995: Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springboks jersey, presents winning captain Francois Pienaar with the trophy at the Rugby World Cup final “We will not take the road to abdication and national suicide. Don't push us too far," declared Botha in his infamous "Rubicon" speech in 1985 - so named because he was decidedly not crossing the Rubicon to reform the system. Yet only nine years later, apartheid had not been diluted, but consigned to history. Mandela was serving as the first black president, South Africa had become the democratic “Rainbow Nation” of his promises – and Botha had retired, seeing out his days on the Cape coast until his death in 2006. And all this happened without a civil war. This peaceful achievement of democracy was Mandela’s monument. He was the key to everything. Mandela was South Africa’s indispensable man, providing the personal ballast which saved his country from tipping into that abyss of conflict.

Born in 1918 in the eastern Transkei, he was a member of the royal family of the Thembu clan of the Xhosa people. Mandela was named Rolihlahla, or 'troublemaker', but when he started school, his British teacher - one Mr Wellington - decided that for ease of pronunciation this pupil would henceforth be called "Nelson" after the great admiral. Mandela’s father, Henry, served as a traditional chief and adviser in the court of the Thembu king, Jongintaba Dalindyebo, and when Henry died in 1930, Jongintaba became the boy’s official guardian. Mandela was groomed to become a royal counsellor, like his father, and was deeply influenced by what he remembered - perhaps rosily - as the king’s benign rule. On Mandela's telling, the royal court was a collegiate place where everyone had their say and, so far as possible, Jongintaba secured universal agreement for every decision.

Nelson Mandela talking to PW Botha, former South Africa president and staunch supporter of apartheid, during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings As part of Mandela's preparation for his role, Jongintaba arranged for him to go to a prestigious school, Healdtown college. There, Mandela developed his lifelong love of English literature and a deep knowledge of British history. In his memoirs, he would "confess" to being "something of an Anglophile", writing of his attachment to “British style and manners”. He spoke of his acquired English name with pride, explaining that “Lord Nelson is a famous historical figure” and “the name Nelson is too famous for you just to throw it away”. Mandela progressed to study law at Fort Hare University, then the only institution offering degree-level education for young blacks. But he soon fell out with Jongintaba on a deeply sensitive issue. The old ruler wanted Mandela to marry a girl who was actually in love with his own son, Justice. Mandela fled this prospect for the townships of 1940s Johannesburg. But for this incident, he might have lived out his days as a Thembu chief in a remote area of South Africa.

Instead, Mandela arrived in Johannesburg and joined the African National Congress (ANC). Together with Oliver Tambo, another ANC figure, he formed the only black law firm in the country. Mandela delivered flamboyant courtroom performances – and lost case after case. The redress his black clients needed from apartheid was, quite simply, impossible to obtain. So he became a young radical. At some point in the 1950s, the evidence suggests he was a secret member of the banned Communist party, although he probably left after a few years. Mandela helped to organise the ANC’s “defiance” campaign of the 1950s and was charged with High Treason in 1957, enduring the longest political trial in South African history before being acquitted. 2004: 46664 was Nelson Mandela's prison number on Robben Island, where he was held for 18 years. It is now used to help in the fight against Aids in South Africa by raising money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation Repression was the government’s answer to the ANC. The Sharpeville massacre and the ANC’s formal banning in 1960 convinced Mandela that drastic steps were needed.

Tambo later recalled the Mandela of this era as a combative hardliner. “If you wanted confrontation, you called Mandela,” he said. Mandela decided to lead an “armed struggle” and became the first commander of “Umkhonto we Sizwe”, the “Spear of the Nation”, as the ANC’s new guerrilla army was known. He then organised a bombing campaign in December 1961. Sabotage was the only aim – there was no plan to kill anyone – and bombs were placed at power stations, electricity pylons and empty government offices. The whole effort was a fiasco. Some bombs failed to explode, others blew up too early. The only casualty was a young recruit, Petrus Molife, who was so badly trained that he accidentally killed himself with his own explosives – a fact that Mandela omitted from his memoirs. This episode showed that Mandela was probably one of the worst guerrilla leaders in history. Unable to organise a bombing campaign, he also ignored basic security procedures, carrying incriminating documents and taking his habitual early morning walks even while hiding in safe houses. He was duly arrested in 1962 and jailed for leaving the country illegally.

Whether as township lawyer or ANC activist, Mandela had shown himself courageous, charismatic and dedicated to the cause. Yet the young Mandela was also arrogant, stubborn and feckless. His incompetence during his brief leadership of the "armed struggle" verged on the absurd. It was the prison years that brought out his greatness. Twelve months after he was jailed, police raided an ANC training camp in Rivonia, outside Johannesburg. Mandela was brought from his cell and placed on trial for sabotage and “acts of violence”. The Rivonia trial, starting in December 1963, provided the world’s last glimpse of Mandela for almost three decades. He was charged with treason, a capital offence, and his own lawyers put his chances of being hanged at 50-50. With his life in the balance, Mandela gave an address from the dock which ranks among the greatest speeches of the 20th century. “I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people,” he said. “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realised.” Then, knowing that he faced the scaffold, Mandela looked directly at the judge. “But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” In the event, Mr Justice Quartus de Wet sentenced Mandela to life imprisonment with hard labour, a verdict that brought sighs of relief from the public gallery. At the age of 46, Mandela was consigned to Robben Island, a windswept rock in the Atlantic, used variously as a leper colony and maximum security jail. The prison routine was merciless: Mandela broke rocks in the courtyard, forbidden to talk to other inmates. He lived alone in a tiny and frigid cell. Later, he worked in a quarry, where the glare of sunlight glittering off limestone permanently damaged his eyes. He endured a series of personal tragedies. Mandela’s mother, Nosekeni, died in 1968. Police raided his family home and wrenched his headstrong wife, Winnie, from their daughters before placing her in solitary confinement. Then his son, Thembekile, died in a car accident in 1969.

“What can one say about such a tragedy?” Mandela wrote. “I was already overwrought about my wife, I was still grieving for my mother, and then to hear such news. I do not have words to express the sorrow or the loss I felt.” Mandela fought his despair by setting out to become the master of his prison life. He refused to defer to the guards, treating them as unsentimental equals. He embraced the maxim “know your enemy”, learning reasonable Afrikaans and burying himself in Afrikaner poetry and literature. Mandela, intensely reserved and self-contained, was quietly imbued with a sense of destiny. His favourite poem was W.E. Henley’s “Invictus”: It matters not how strait the gate How charged with punishments the scroll I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. The more far-sighted ministers in South Africa’s regime began to realise that prisoner no. 46664 was no ordinary inmate. If a negotiated end to apartheid was possible, then Mandela was the man to deal with. As early as 1986, the regime began talking to Mandela.

In complete secrecy, Mandela held scores of meetings with Kobie Coetsee, then justice minister, and later Niel Barnard, then head of intelligence. During these remarkable negotiations, the prisoner, the cabinet minister and the spy chief agreed the outlines of what became South Africa’s historic settlement: majority rule combined with constitutional guarantees for racial minorities. By the time FW de Klerk ousted Botha in 1989, the regime had concluded that Mandela was someone who they could – and must – do business with. De Klerk duly released Mandela in February 1990 and opened formal talks with the ANC. At the age of 71, Mandela walked free after 27 years behind bars. That fact alone gave him the credibility to achieve what followed. No black radical could question Mandela’s dedication to the struggle and, by the same token, no white South African could doubt that his gestures of reconciliation were genuine and heartfelt. But first came the long, hard business of negotiation. No one who dealt with Mandela was allowed to doubt his skills as a canny lawyer and shrewd politician. The talks to produce a new constitution were always on the brink of collapse.

Infuriated by massacres of ANC supporters, which he blamed on de Klerk’s security forces, Mandela showed a ruthlessness that belied his saintly image. After 45 people were murdered in Boipatong township in 1992, Mandela walked out of the talks, called a general strike and personally led a march by 100,000 demonstrators. In the end, the deal which he alone had the standing to deliver was concluded, and South Africa’s first free elections followed on April 27 1994. After millions of blacks and whites had queued together to vote, Mandela won the presidency. His gestures of reconciliation went beyond anything that whites had expected. Mandela summoned Percy Yutar, the prosecutor who had tried to have him hanged at the Rivonia trial, and gave him an official lunch. He sought out one of his old jailers, Jannie Roux, the former prison commissioner, and made him Ambassador to Austria. He took tea with Betsy Verwoerd, the widow of Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid. He even used rugby – the adopted sport of Afrikanerdom – in the cause of reconciliation.

The Springbok rugby team had once symbolised apartheid and, on principle, black South Africans would always cheer their opponents. But when they played New Zealand at home in the Rugby World Cup final in 1995, Mandela donned a Springbok shirt and embraced their victorious captain. In his inauguration speech, Mandela declared: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.” Those words still ring in the ears of millions of South Africans. Deep down, they know that their country is free because a man called Nelson Mandela lived. How will you remember Nelson Mandela? Please email your tributes and memories to mandelatributes@telegraph.co.uk

Question: Who famously lived at Robben Island prison from 1964-1990?
Answer: Nelson Mandela