List of awards and honours bestowed upon Nelson Mandela


This is a comprehensive list of awards, honours and other recognitions bestowed on Nelson Mandela. Mandela received more than 260 awards over 40 years, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
From 1994 to 1999, Mandela was President of South Africa. He was the first such African to be elected in fully representative democratic polls.
Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent 27 years in prison, much of it in a cell on Robben Island. The rest of his incarceration was in Pollsmoor Prison, on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid.
Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, his advocacy of a policy of reconciliation and negotiation helped lead the transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end of apartheid, he was widely praised, even by former opponents.
Mandela died on 5 December 2013, a celebrated :wikt:elder statesman|elder statesman who continued to voice his opinion on topical issues. In South Africa he was often known as Madiba, an aristocratic title adopted by the elderly members of the royal clan that he belongs to. This title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela.

1940s

A quote of Mandela's from 1991, "I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom," is on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.

Summary of his Orders

Armorial