F. W. de Klerk summary

Encyclopædia Britannica’s first biography of Nelson Mandela appeared in print in 1965, published in the Britannica Book of the Year prepared by Britannica’s London office: This biography was imprecise in places—Mandela, for example, was born in the village of Mvezo, in the Umtata district of the

National Party (NP), South African political party, founded in 1914, which ruled the country from 1948 to 1994. Its following included most of the Dutch-descended Afrikaners and many English-speaking whites. The National Party was long dedicated to policies of apartheid and white supremacy, but by

Nelson Mandela was a Black nationalist and the first Black president of South Africa (1994–99). His negotiations in the early 1990s with South African Pres. F.W. de Klerk helped end the country’s apartheid system of racial segregation and ushered in a peaceful transition to majority rule. Mandela

Nobel Prize, any of the prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual