Nelson Mandela had been receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.
Nelson Mandela will be buried, according to his wishes, in the village of Qunu, where he grew up.
Announcing the news on South African national TV, President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela was at peace.
"Our nation has lost its greatest son," President Jacob Zuma said
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said in his statement that "what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.
"Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell."
World Mourns The Death of Nelson Mandela
The UN Security Council in New York stood for a minute of silence
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General said -
''The people of South
Africa and human rights advocates around the world have lost a great
leader. His passion for freedom and justice created new hope for
generations of oppressed people worldwide, and because of him, South
Africa is today one of the world's leading democracies''
Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India said -
"A giant among men has passed away. This is as much India's loss as South Africa's. He was a true Gandhian. His life and work will remain a source of eternal inspiration for generations to come. I join all those who are praying for his soul''
Pranab Mukherjee, President of India said -
''Our people have lost a father. Although we knew this day was going to come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, passion and humanity earned him their love''
Barack Obama, US President said -
''A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time''David Cameron, British Prime Minister said -
'' Like a most precious diamond honed deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Madiba who emerged from prison in January 1990 was virtually flawless ... Instead of calling for his pound of flesh, he proclaimed the message of forgiveness and reconciliation, inspiring others by his example to extraordinary acts of nobility of spirit''
Angela Merkel, German Chancellor said -
''Although it has come at
the advanced age of 95, Madiba's death will create a huge vacuum that
will be difficult to fill in our continent. He will be sorely missed by
all who cherish love, peace and freedom the world over ...''Allahabad University student pay tributes to a sand sculpture of Nelson Mandela near the river bank of Ganga at Sangam.
About Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, a tiny village of cows, corn and mud huts in the rolling hills of the Transkei, a former British protectorate in the south. His given name, he enjoyed pointing out, translates colloquially as "troublemaker." He received his more familiar English name from a teacher when he began school at age 7. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief of the Thembu people, a subdivision of the Xhosa nation
Studying law at Fort Hare, Nelson Mandela fell in with Oliver Tambo, another leader-to-be of the liberation movement. On returning to his home village, he learned that his family had chosen a bride for him. Finding the woman unappealing and the prospect of a career in tribal government even more so, he ran away to the black metropolis of Soweto.
Nelson Mandela, though he never completed his law degree, opened the first black law partnership in South Africa with Oliver Tambo
First Marriage
During his years as a young lawyer in Soweto, Mandela Mandela married a nurse, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, and they had four children, including a daughter who died at 9 months.
The demands of his politics kept him from his family.
The marriage grew cold and ended with abruptness.
Second Marriage
A friend introduced him to Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela, a stunning and strong-willed medical social worker 16 years his junior.
NelsonMandela was smitten, declaring on their first date that he would marry her.
Nelson Mandela and Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela married in 1958
Nelson Mandela divorced Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in 1996, ending a powerful political partnership that had lasted through decades of struggle
Imprisonment and Release(1964 -1990)
Nelson Mandela was arrested for sabotage on April 20,1964
Nelson Mandela delivered a statement during his trial in Pretoria that revealed the depth of his resolve in the fight against apartheid and his willingness to lay down his life in an effort to end white racist rule.
"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people," Mandela said. "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Two months later, he and seven other defendants were sentenced to life in prison.
18 out of 27 years were served on Robben Island
"In those early years, isolation became a habit. We were routinely charged for the smallest infractions and sentenced to isolation," he wrote in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom. "The authorities believed that isolation was the cure for our defiance and rebelliousness."
"I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There was no end and no beginning; there is only one's own mind, which can begin to play tricks."
Robben Island, in shark-infested waters about seven miles off Cape Town, had over the centuries been a naval garrison, a mental hospital and a leper colony, but it was most famously a prison
For Nelson Mandela and others, Robben Island was a university. He honed his skills as a leader, negotiator and proselytizer, and not only the factions among the prisoners but also some of the white administrators found his charm and iron will irresistible
Nelson Mandela said prison tempered any desire for vengeance by exposing him to sympathetic white guards, and to moderates within the National Party government who approached him in hopes of opening a dialogue. Above all, prison taught him to be a master negotiator
FW de Klerk, who as South Africa's last white president ordered Nelson Mandela's release, called him a "unifier" and said he had "a remarkable lack of bitterness"
Nelson Mandela was released on Feb 11,1990 from Victor Verster Prison, after 27 years in prison for his political activities, as South Africa began to move away from strict racial segregation - a process completed by the first multi-racial elections in 1994
Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela give black power salutes as they enter Soccer City stadium in the Soweto township of Johannesburg, South Africa, shortly after his release from 27 years in prison
Nelson Mandela walked out of South Africa's Victor Verster prison near Cape Town after 27 years in captivity, holding hands with his wife, Winnie
Nelson Mandela said he was astounded by the reception.
"When I was among the crowd I raised my right fist, and there was a roar. I had not been able to do that for twenty-seven years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy," Mandela wrote.
Nelson Mandela also recalled: "As I finally walked through those gates to enter a car on the other side, I felt - even at the age of seventy-one - that my life was beginning anew."
Nelson Mandela was 44 years of age when he was manacled and put on a ferry to the Robben Island prison. He would be 71years of age when he was released.
To mark the fifth anniversary of his release, Nelson Mandela visited the prison on Robben Island in February 1995 where he had spent 18 years in captivity.
Musicians, film stars and politicians joined Mr Mandela at a concert in London's Hyde Park in 2008 to celebrate his 90th birthday.
Speaking to the crowd, he said: "It is time for new hands to lift the burdens, it is in your hands now."
Elected President of South Africa
In the April 1994 election, voters lined up in some places for miles. The African National Congress(ANC) got 62 %of the vote,getting 252 of the 400 seats in Parliament's National Assembly and ensuring that Nelson Mandela, as party leader, would be named President of South Africa
African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela casts his vote during South Africa's first all-race elections at Ohlange High School in Inanda, South Africa, 10 miles (15 kilometers) north of Durban in April 1994
Nelson Mandela was elected South Africa's 1st Black President and sworn in as president on May 10, 1994 and he accepted office with a speech of shared patriotism.
"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another,"
At his inauguration,Nelson Mandela stood hand on heart, saluted by white generals as he sang along to two anthems: the apartheid-era Afrikaans "Die Stem" ("The Voice") and the African "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("Lord Bless Africa")
South African President Nelson Mandela addresses the 49th United Nations General Assembly session, five months after being inaugurated at South Africa's first black president in Oct 1994
South African President Nelson Mandela, center, applauds along with his two deputy presidents, Thabo Mbeki, left, and F.W. de Klerk, after a new constitution was approved by the Constitutional Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa in May 1996
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, left, shares a laugh with South Africa President Nelson Mandela at a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland in May 1998
Nelson Mandela served a single term and step down in 1999.
Nelson Mandela dons boxing gloves for a photo opportunity on the eve of his 88th birthday in Johannesburg, on July 17, 2006
Campaign against HIV/Aids
South Africa which has the most people living with HIV in the world at 5.6 million, still faces stigma and high rates of infection.
Last Public Appearance
Nelson Mandela helped to secure his country's right to host the 2010 football World Cup
Nelson Mandela had kept a low profile during the month-long tournament, deciding against attending the opener on June 11,2010 after the death of his great-grand daughter in a traffic accident following a World Cup concert.
Nelson Mandela waved to the crowd at the Soccer City stadium at the closing ceremony of the World Cup on July 11,2010
Nelson Mandela did not address the crowd on that emotional day in the stadium. It was his last public appearance
Nelson Mandela, receiving a torch to celebrate the African National Congress' centenary from ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete on May 30, 2012 in Mandela's home village Qunu in rural eastern South Africa
On December 08,2012,Nelson Mandela was admitted to Pretoria hospital for medical tests
A portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela is attached to a wall outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where he was treated in Pretoria -July 2013
Awards and Honours to Nelson Mandela
- F.W. de Klerk(South Africa)
- Yasser Arafat(Palestine) and
- Yitshak Rabin(Israel)
Family
Nelson Mandela fell publicly in love with Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique and an activist in her own right for humanitarian causes(Mozambican president Samora Machel, was killed in a mystery air crash in northern South Africa in 1986)
Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel married in 1998 on Mandela's 80th birthday.
Graca Machel survives him, as do his two daughters by Winnie Mandela, Zenani and Zindziswa;
a daughter, Makaziwe, by his first wife;
17 grandchildren; and
14 great-grandchildren
Nelson Mandela poses with his grandchildren at his home in Qunu, South Africa, on July 18, 2008
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