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Home , Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Evelyn Mase, Johannesburg, Soweto, Thembu people

Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources TIMELINE

Timeline: an overview of Some ideas for using the Timeline: • Students create a concurrent timeline along South African modern history • Students select highlights to help present a a personally-relevant historical theme such three-minute overview of . as their local town or , their family, and key events in Nelson the rights of women in Britain, sport, arts, • Students choose one event, research it, then Mandela’s life literature, science. What was happening in all students present what they’ve found and the wider world at this time? Are there any how it relates to Nelson Mandela to build an connections between students’ lives and This timeline can be used to introduce students overall picture. to Nelson Mandela and the Freedom Struggle Nelson Mandela? against . It will help to prepare • Students use the Timeline to explore cause • Students can refer to the Timeline to help students for a visit to Nelson Mandela: and consequence. They highlight an event organise their thinking and present their The Official Exhibition, and to consolidate and then find an event or action that led to findings in enquiries, debates and other learning and organise their findings back in it, and another which happened because activities inspired by the exhibition. the classroom. of it. They add more detail and further causes and consequences during their exhibition visit. Timeline key: • Students categorise or tag events in the “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and Timeline using their own headings such as Origins of South free society in which all persons live together in ‘resistance’, ‘politics’, ‘women’. What other harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an events can they find in the exhibition to add ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. to their categories? The rise of apartheid — But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am Nelson Mandela’s early life • A small number of events have been prepared to die.” highlighted as key moments in Nelson Nelson Mandela, Trial, 1964 Apartheid and resistance — Mandela’s life and the Struggle against Nelson Mandela and the ANC apartheid. Students use their exhibition visit to choose exactly five more to also Nelson Mandela and the highlight. They explain their choices. dismantling of apartheid Are they from the existing Timeline or did they add new ones found in the exhibition? Key events in Nelson Mandela’s life Can the whole class agree on a top ten?

1 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources TIMELINE The Great Trek begins Dutch-speaking settlers migrate from the into the interior of , away from the boundaries of the British colony. These Europeans encounter what ‘Voortrekkers’, descended from is now South Africa for the Dutch, German and French first time settlers come to be known The are established collectively as or as the dominant power in the (‘farmers’). They seize Southern and South-Western strongholds from various Cape regions. Nguni and The British occupy the African chiefdoms, driving Sotho speaking groups begin out indigenous peoples and Cape Colony (the Cape colonizing the Cape region. forming two republics in the Portuguese and, later, English of Hope) for the northern part of today’s and Dutch ships begin to map first time South Africa: the Orange Free Diamonds are discovered its coastline and trade with Formal possession of the State and the South African in one of the Afrikaner Africans in what is now colony by the British takes Republic (also known as the republics, the Orange Table Bay. place in 1814. Republic). Free State

Late 1400s–1500s 1600s 1795 1820 c. 1835–40 1838 1867 1880

Europeans settle in South Around 4,000 British The Voortrekkers draw The Anglo-Boer Africa for the first time settlers arrive up constitutions for their Wars begin They begin to colonize and They are encouraged to migrate new states Fighting breaks out when the trade with the Khoisan peoples to what is now the Eastern These entrench the legal British attempt, and eventually at the Cape. The first Khoisan- Cape, to increase the size of superiority of succeed, in annexing the two Dutch war is fought. Chiefdoms the White settler population. over . Afrikaner republics, escalating begin to strengthen, and the They are used by the colonial into full-scale war. These Nguni and Sotho groups begin authorities as a buffer against conflicts have many names, splitting into the groups such as the indigenous people on but become known in Britain Zulu and Xhosa we know today. whose land they are settled. as the Boer Wars. The conflict leads to a series of so-called ‘frontier wars’ between the European settlers and the .

2 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources TIMELINE

The Urban Areas Native Pass Act is the first Black Africans seeking work Prime Minister of the is discovered in in must obtain a permit, allowing them just six days Racial segregation becomes the in to find a job. ‘Pass ’ later official policy. Botha introduces the Afrikaner-controlled become a dominant feature of laws that reserve certain Austria- declares Transvaal the apartheid system, as well occupations for White workers war on Serbia signalling Migrants from all over the as resistance to it. They apply and force Black South Africans the start of the First world flock to the . mainly to men until the . to live in rural ‘reserves’. World War

1886 1896 1909 1910 1912 1914 1918

Johannesburg becomes South Africa is united for The South African Native Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela the largest city in the first time into a single National Congress (later is born on 18 July South Africa state known as the Union the ANC) is formed He is born in Mveso, a rural The ‘Randlords’ (mining bosses) of South Africa Its membership remains village in what is now the and authorities segregate This is largely due to Britain exclusively male until women , into the different peoples within the forcing the Transvaal and the are allowed to join in 1943. clan of the Thembu people. city aiming to prevent ‘racial into a union He spends his early life in mixing’. Poverty, overcrowding with the two British colonies, Mveso and . Madiba later and disease is rife. Cape Colony and Natal. Long- becomes his preferred name. standing tensions between -speaking and English- The armistice is signed speaking between the Allies and remain. Although a dominion Germany, bringing the of the British Empire, this new First World War to an end state is self-governing.

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The Rand Revolt An uprising by White miners Nelson Mandela’s in the Witwatersrand leads father dies to a general strike and open revolution. They protest against Rolihlahla Mandela is Nelson Mandela moves the proposal to replace the given the English name ‘colour bar’ and increase to the ‘Great Place’ of the ratio of Black to White ‘Nelson’ by his primary Mqhekezweni Wartime statesman mineworkers, which could school teacher Here he is entrusted to Thembu Field Marshal J.C. Smuts threaten their jobs. The revolt This is common practice and an Regent King Jongintaba becomes Prime Minister is brutally supressed by the indication of the British colonial Dalindyebo. It is years before of South Africa Smuts government. influences of the time. he sees his mother again.

1919 1921 1922 1924 1925 1929 1930 1931

The Communist Party of The National Party’s The Great The African National South Africa is formed J.B.M. Hertzog becomes Depression begins Congress Women’s They help organise protests Prime Minister The Wall Street Stock Exchange League is founded such as bus boycotts, in He introduces his ‘Civilised in New York collapses, plunging It is integrated with the ANC in opposition to segregation and Labour’ policy, excluding Black the global economy into 1943 when women are allowed increasing oppression of Black Africans from trade unions crisis, including South Africa. to join for the first time. Africans. Many of their leaders and protecting the wages and Thousands of South Africans and members are White. occupations of White workers. lose their jobs – Black Africans He also replaces Dutch with are usually among the first Afrikaans as the second official – and experience extreme language (after English). poverty, especially in rural areas. This is worsened by a devastating drought. are tightened.

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Nelson Mandela undergoes the Thembu initiation ceremony This is the traditional rite- of-passage from boyhood to manhood, including the ulwaluko circumcision ceremony.

D.F. Malan forms the Purified National Party Believing in the racial superiority of Afrikaner people, Nelson Mandela begins he leads the movement to studies for a Bachelor Nelson Mandela is promote of Arts degree at the expelled from university Nelson Mandela starts and make South Africa a University College of after becoming involved attending African National ‘White man’s land’. Fort Hare in a student protest Congress meetings

1934 1936 1939 1940 1941 1942 1944

‘Native’ Acts Adolf Hitler invades Nelson Mandela moves Nelson Mandela co-founds Prime Minister Hertzog Poland sparking the to the African National proposes ‘Native’ legislation outbreak of the Second Regent Dalindyebo arranges Congress Youth League which restricts the voting World War marriages for his son Justice (ANCYL) rights of Black Africans, while The South African government and for Nelson Mandela, but His co-founders are Ashby Mda, making it easier for White and is divided in response. Herzog the two young men rebel. They , ‘Coloured’ people to vote – resigns, believing the country run away to Johannesburg. and Anton Lambede (its first including, for the first time, should remain neutral. Smuts Nelson Mandela begins president). They call for an White women. The number of takes over again as Prime studies and meets Walter Sisulu anti-discrimination approach White voters more than doubles Minister, and South Africa and Albertina Totiwe (who based on mass actions such while Black voters are reduced joins the war on the side of later marries Walter). They as protests, boycotts and to a negligible number. the Allies, with South African will become key influences on passive resistance. armed forces fighting in many his life. key battles. Nelson Mandela marries They have four children together. 5 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources TIMELINE

The ANC launches the This is a peaceful, organised programme where large groups of Black Africans purposefully break apartheid laws, such as Apartheid is introduced walking through ‘Whites in South Africa only’ entrances and refusing The National Party comes to carry passes, hoping to to power, with D.F. Malan as flood the prisons and reverse Prime Minister. He implements the laws. The campaign attracts The Public Safety Act The Second World War 148 apartheid laws supporting major attention and swells is introduced ends when Germany, domination of White people membership of the ANC but This enables the government to and later Japan, surrender over other races and legalising results in extreme violence declare a ‘state of emergency’ unconditionally to and institutionalising racial towards protestors from if it believes public order is the Allies discrimination. the police. being threatened.

1945 1946 1948 1951 1952 1953 1954

Miners strike Nelson Mandela is elected Nelson Mandela is elected J.G. Strijdom becomes 70,000 African mineworkers president of the ANC Deputy President of Prime Minister strike, calling for better Youth League the ANC He is an uncompromising wages and housing, Afrikaner nationalist who strengthening fears among Nelson Mandela and other furthers apartheid in the White population. members of the ANC are South Africa. arrested and convicted for their part in the Defiance Campaign They receive a suspended sentence.

Nelson Mandela and his friend Oliver Tambo open South Africa’s first Black-owned law firm 6 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources Nelson Mandela publicly TIMELINE burns his passbook As protests erupt in the wake of the , Nelson Mandela burns his passbook in front of an audience of journalists. Verwoerd’s government declares a state of emergency. Nelson Mandela is among over 2000 people arrested. The is National Women’s Day The ANC is banned as drawn up 20,000 women march on the The , made Union buildings in , on part of the Unlawful Organisations Act up of the ANC and other 9 August, to protest against Nelson and Evelyn anti-apartheid groups, draw Strijdom’s proposal to extend Under this act any organisation Mandela divorce up the Charter declaring the pass laws to include women. deemed a threat to the public ‘South Africa belongs to all who The women fail to prevent the can be declared unlawful or live in it’. Its demands endure introduction of the law but Nelson Mandela and ‘banned’ by the government. and go on to inspire many 9 August later becomes an Winnie Madikizela marry The ANC’s president Oliver principles of South Africa’s established public holiday in They have two daughters Tambo and his wife Adelaide post-apartheid constitution. South Africa. together. move to .

1955 1956 1958 1960

The Treason Trial begins Dr The Sharpeville Massacre The British Anti-Apartheid Nelson Mandela is among 156 becomes Prime Minister On 21 March, Black South Movement begins arrested for drawing up the of South Africa Africans gather to hand in Tambo leads the Freedom Freedom Charter, which the He will be described by many their passes at Sharpeville Struggle in exile, garnering government believes is an as the ‘architect of apartheid’. government offices, in a support from Britain and the attempt to overthrow it. He begins the introduction of peaceful protest against the wider world. The British Anti- They are tried for treason. ‘Separate Development’, a plan Pass Laws. The police open Apartheid Movement embraces The trial drags on until 1961 to force Black Africans to live in fire on the unarmed crowd, a network of organisations when all are found not guilty. one of ten rural, self-governed, killing 69 and wounding including student bodies, trade ‘homelands’ or ‘’. 148. The massacre marks a unions, the Communist Party The Bantustans are not significant turning point in and sections of the British abolished until 1994, following the anti-apartheid struggle Labour Party. the end of apartheid. and signals the start of armed resistance by the ANC.

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Nelson Mandela makes his famous ‘prepared to die’ speech from the dock This is widely believed to have saved him and his fellow Nelson Mandela leaves Winnie Mandela is prisoners from the death South Africa for the served with a two-year sentence. All except Rusty first time banning order Bernstein are convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He tours African nations, This severely restricts her building support for the ANC’s activity including preventing cause. He receives military her from leaving Johannesburg Nelson Mandela arrives on South Africa officially training in Ethiopia at the or addressing any kind of on 13 June becomes a republic invitation of Emperor Haile gathering. Over the coming He is imprisoned there for 18 This is narrowly approved in Selassie. He also flies to London years she is continually a target years. It is months before he is a referendum in which only where he meets with Oliver for arrest, harassment and allowed his first visit. By 1967 White people are allowed to Tambo and British politicians terrorisation as the government he is allowed four visits a year. vote. A nationwide strike is who are sympathetic to the repeatedly try to quash her role He will not see his daughters held in protest. ANC’s cause. in the anti-apartheid struggle. until 1975.

1961 1962 1963 1964 1966

Nelson Mandela and the Nelson Mandela is caught Nelson Mandela appears Verwoerd is assassinated ANC go underground and arrested in court for the first time The attack is not believed Forced to live the life of a He attends his first day of in what becomes known to be politically motivated. political outlaw, he leaves his court in traditional Thembu as the family, his job and his home. leopard-skin kaross. He is Alongside him are Walter B.J. Vorster becomes The ANC choose a secret base sentenced to five years in Sisulu, , Govan Prime Minister of at north of prison. The identity of the Mbeki, , Lionel South Africa Johannesburg. There they informant is still debated now. 'Rusty' Bernstein, Raymond begin planning a campaign Mhlaba, James Kantor (later of armed resistance. discharged), and .

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Nelson and Evelyn’s son, Thembekile, is killed in The UN Security Council a car crash imposes an arms embargo Nelson Mandela’s Nelson Mandela is again refused on South Africa mother dies permission to leave Robben He is refused permission Island to attend the funeral. Vorster’s government The World Conference to leave Robben Island to offers Nelson Mandela for Action Against attend her funeral. Winnie Mandela is release Apartheid takes place arrested and imprisoned This is on the condition he in , Nigeria American civil rights for 491 days moves to the (a rural The conference is attended by leader Martin Luther She is held in Pretoria in what is now the representatives of more than King is assassinated in Central Prison, including Eastern Cape region), which 100 governments, organisations Tennessee, USA months in isolation. he rejects. and liberation movements.

1968 1969 1973 1976 1977 1978

Sport boycott The ANC extends its The Uprising Nelson Mandela turns ’s team cancel membership to include begins 60 in prison their tour of South Africa White people On 16 June, thousands of school 10,000 birthday cards from when Basil D’Oliveira, a South students take to the streets to anti-apartheid activists in Britain African-born player of Indian NASA astronaut Neil protest against compulsory are collected and sent but none and Portuguese heritage, is Armstrong becomes the use of Afrikaans in schools. are delivered to him. refused permission by Vorster first person to walk on The student uprising spreads to to face the South African team. the Moon other parts of the country. Over P.W. Botha comes to The incident culminates in a 1000 die – mostly at the hands power in South Africa boycott of South African sport of the police. He abolishes the position that lasts for years and excludes of Prime Minister in 1984 South Africa from major world and becomes Executive sporting events including State President. the Olympics.

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Nelson Mandela turns 70 London leads the global response and continued calls for his release and an end to apartheid. Tens of thousands of demonstrators throng to a rally in Hyde Park. A tribute concert, South Africa’s first watched by approximately The ban on the ANC is democratic general 600 million people in over lifted on 3 February election 60 countries takes place at On 27 April, Nelson Mandela Wembley Stadium. Nelson Mandela is and millions of Black Africans unconditionally released vote for the first time in Nelson Mandela is from prison on 11 February their lives. Nelson Mandela is transferred to the In April he flies to London Nelson Mandela is elected transferred to Pollsmoor low security prison to attend a second tribute Prison in Victor Verster concert at Wembley Stadium. President of the Republic His Rivonia Trial comrades On 7 December, he is moved Addressing the crowd, he thanks of South Africa Sisulu, Mhlaba, Mlangeni and and held in this prison in the the world for choosing to care F.W. de Klerk becomes Kathrada are also moved there. for 14 months. about South Africa’s plight. his deputy.

1982 1985 1988 1989 1990 1993 1994 1995

President P.W. Botha F.W. de Klerk is elected Leader of the South Africa The South Africa Truth offers to release Nelson as State President Communist Party and anti- and Reconciliation Mandela He introduces universal apartheid activist Chris Commission is set up In the face of mounting civil suffrage, secures the release Hani is assassinated It bears witness to, records, unrest, Botha offers to release of Nelson Mandela and is His assassination is an attempt and in some cases grants Nelson Mandela and his instrumental in bringing to tip South Africa into civil amnesty to the perpetrators comrades on the condition apartheid to an end. war. Nelson Mandela makes of crimes relating to human that they renounce violence as an impassioned and pivotal rights violations, as well a means to achieve democracy. televised speech in response, as offering reparation and Nelson Mandela rejects this calling for calm and unity. rehabilitation to the victims. and calls on him to dismantle apartheid. His daughter Zindzi Nelson Mandela and reads out her father's reply at F.W. de Klerk are jointly the Jabulani Stadium. Violence awarded the Nobel continues with the government Peace Prize repeatedly declaring a state of emergency. 10 Nelson Mandela: The Official Exhibition Learning Resources TIMELINE

Francois Pienaar captains the South African rugby team – the Springboks – to their first Rugby World Cup victory It is the first major sporting event to be held in post- apartheid South Africa and the first world cup in which South Africa is allowed to compete. Nelson Mandela awards the trophy wearing a Springboks shirt and cap South Africa’s new Nelson Mandela steps Nelson Mandela officially in what becomes an iconic democratic Constitution down as President of retires from public life moment for racial unity. comes into effect South Africa (aged 86)

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2002 2004 2005

Nelson Mandela and Nelson Mandela marries Nelson Mandela celebrates Makgatho, Nelson Winnie Madikizela- activist Graça Machel the 120th school built Mandela’s only surviving Mandela divorce (on his 80th birthday) through his Foundation’s son from his first marriage, Rural Education dies of Aids Programme This personal tragedy reinforces Nelson Mandela’s commitment to combating the disease via his 46664 charity (46664 is Nelson Mandela’s Robben Island prisoner number).

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Nelson Mandela attends the installation of his grandson Mandla as Chief of the Traditional Council

Nelson Mandela co-founds the Elders Nelson Mandela makes his This is a group of respected final public appearance thought leaders set up by Nelson and his wife Graça , attend the closing ceremony of and Nelson Mandela to pursue the FIFA World Cup, held for global peace and human rights. the first time in South Africa.

2007 2008 2010 2013

Nelson Mandela flies Nelson Mandela – Madiba to London to attend – dies aged 95 a 46664 charity concert Nelson Mandela dies on 5 celebrating his December at his house in 90th birthday Johannesburg, surrounded It is his last foreign trip. He tells by his family. He is buried the crowd: “We say tonight in his home village of Qunu. after nearly 90 years of life, it South Africa enters a ten-day is time for new hands to lift the period of national mourning. burden. It is in your hands now”. Announcing his death, President says ‘Our nation has lost its greatest son’. Kofi Annan, Chair of The Elders, says ‘Madiba's legacy beckons us to follow his example to strive for human rights, reconciliation and justice for all.’ 12