Google is celebrating the birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela with an interactive Doodle. The doodle begins with the image of the former leader and clicking on the image will take you through a number of his famous quotes and illustrations from his 'Long Walk to Freedom'.
Nelson Mandela was born on the 18 July 1918 was an African nationalist and democratic socialist. He served as president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, after spending nearly 27 years in prison. Mandela was finally released following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990, and became an important player in the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid. Google’s illustration of Mandela’s imprisonment on Robben Island shows him reading, with the famous quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world”.
One of the most famous lines by Mandela symbolizing the end of apartheid was, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Mandela's fight against the racists regime of South Africa, has often been compared with Mahatma Gandhi's freedom fight against the British rule in India. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela died on the 5 December 2013, after suffering from a pulmonary infection.