On 11 February 1990, 27 years after his imprisonment, Nelson Mandela walked out of the Victor Verster prison near Cape Town, a free man at 71, with his wife Winnie holding his hand. President F. W. de Klerk had lifted the ban on the African National Congress nine days earlier. Mandela had been sentenced to life in 1964 for sabotage in the Rivonia Trial, serving most of the time on Robben Island. His release opened negotiations that ended apartheid, and he and de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He became South Africa's first Black president in 1994.
Before and after
- 1990Founding of Shanghai Stock Exchange
- 1990Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
- 19901990 becomes the warmest year on record
- 20 January 1990Black January
- 11 February 1990Nelson Mandela is released from prison
- from March 1990 to March 1997South Armagh sniper campaign
- from 8 April 1990 to 10 June 1991Premiere of Twin Peaks
- 13 April 1990First flight of Sukhoi Su-34
- 15 April 1990Birth of Emma Watson
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The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.