100 free Nelson Mandela trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Nelson Mandela trivia quiz follows Rolihlahla Mandela from a Thembu village in the Transkei to the presidency of South Africa. The easy questions cover the basics: how long he was in prison, the island where he spent most of it, the year he walked free, the man he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with, the clan name South Africans call him by and the rugby shirt he wore in 1995. From there it moves through his childhood as a herd boy, the teacher who named him Nelson, the arranged marriage he ran away from, the night-watchman job at a gold mine, the law firm he opened with Oliver Tambo and the years he spent as the 'Black Pimpernel'. The harder end covers the Defiance Campaign, the M-Plan, the Treason Trial, Sharpeville and the burnt pass, Umkhonto we Sizwe, the African tour and Haile Selassie, the CIA tip-off, the kaross in court, the 'I Am Prepared to Die' speech, the lime quarry, the smuggled autobiography, Pollsmoor and Victor Verster, the secret talks with Kobie Coetsee, CODESA, the 63% election, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Lockerbie, his three marriages and the 67 minutes of Mandela Day. Every answer was checked against Mandela's encyclopaedia entry before publishing and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our Mahatma Gandhi and South Africa quizzes are natural companions.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many years did Mandela spend in prison?
27
He was held on Robben Island and then in two mainland prisons before his release in 1990.
Q 02What does Mandela's Xhosa forename, Rolihlahla, colloquially mean?
'Troublemaker'
He got the English name Nelson from a teacher at his Methodist primary school.
Q 03By what clan name is Mandela affectionately known in South Africa?
Madiba
Dalibunga was the name he received after his circumcision ritual at 16.
Q 04In which village was Mandela born on 18 July 1918?
Mvezo
He grew up in his mother's kraal in nearby Qunu, where he tended herds and later built a house.
Q 05To which royal family did Mandela belong?
The Thembu
His branch of the family was a 'Left-Hand House', ineligible for the throne but hereditary royal councillors.
Q 06How many wives did Mandela's father, Chief Gadla, have?
Four
Nelson's mother Nosekeni Fanny was the third; Gadla had four sons and nine daughters.
Q 07After his father's death, Mandela was entrusted to the guardianship of which regent?
Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo
He was raised at the 'Great Place' at Mqhekezweni alongside the regent's own children.
Q 08Which two sports did Mandela pursue in his spare time at Healdtown college?
Long-distance running and boxing
He kept a lifelong interest in boxing, and became a prefect in his second year.
Q 09At which elite black university did Mandela begin a BA in 1939 and befriend a future comrade of decades?
Fort Hare
He was suspended after a students' council boycott over the food and never returned.
Q 10Why did Mandela and his cousin Justice flee to Johannesburg in 1941?
The regent had arranged marriages for them
His first job was night watchman at Crown Mines, until the headman found out he was a runaway.
Q 11Which ANC activist and realtor got Mandela his first job as an articled clerk at a Johannesburg law firm?
Walter Sisulu
Sisulu became a lifelong comrade; Mandela met his first wife Evelyn Mase at Sisulu's house.
Q 12On what day in 1944 was the ANC Youth League founded, with Mandela on its executive?
Easter Sunday
Anton Lembede was its first president; Mandela became national president in 1950.
Q 13How many times did Mandela fail his final year of law at Wits before being denied a degree?
Three
He had devoted his time to politics; he finally got an LLB from the University of London while in prison.
Q 21What nickname did the press give Mandela while he travelled incognito in 1961?
The Black Pimpernel
The reference was to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Q 22What does Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed group Mandela co-founded in 1961, mean?
'Spear of the Nation'
Inspired by Castro's 26th of July Movement, MK announced itself with 57 bombings on 16 December 1961.
Q 23Where in Rivonia did Mandela hide with MK comrades in 1961?
Liliesleaf Farm
The July 1963 police raid there uncovered the papers that led to the Rivonia Trial.
Q 14How large was the Durban crowd Mandela addressed on 22 June 1952 to launch the Defiance Campaign?
10,000
ANC membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000 during the campaign.
Q 15Mandela's 1953 speech 'No Easy Walk to Freedom' took its title from a quote by whom?
Jawaharlal Nehru
The speech set out the M-Plan, a cell structure for the ANC in case it was banned.
Q 16With whom did Mandela open South Africa's only African-run law firm in August 1953?
Oliver Tambo
Mandela and Tambo dealt with many police brutality cases until the Group Areas Act forced them out of their office.
Q 17The 1955 Freedom Charter, drafted by Rusty Bernstein, was adopted at a conference in which township?
Kliptown
Police forcibly closed the gathering; the charter called for a non-racial state and nationalisation of major industry.
Q 18Whom did Mandela marry in Bizana in June 1958?
Winnie Madikizela
A social worker, she later spent years in prison and banishment; they separated in 1992.
Q 19How did the Treason Trial, which began in 1956, end for Mandela in March 1961?
Not guilty
The judges found the ANC had advocated neither communism nor violent revolution; the verdict embarrassed the government.
Q 20How many protesters were killed by police at Sharpeville in 1960?
69
Mandela publicly burned his pass in solidarity; the government banned the ANC and PAC.
Q 24Which emperor did Mandela meet in Addis Ababa in 1962 while touring Africa in secret?
Haile Selassie
He began a guerrilla warfare course in Ethiopia but was recalled after two months.
Q 25According to a former US diplomat, which agency tipped off South African police before Mandela's 1962 arrest?
The CIA
Donald Rickard said the agency feared Mandela's communist associations; he was caught near Howick.
Q 26What did Mandela wear to disrupt his 1962 hearing in Pretoria?
A traditional kaross
He called no witnesses and turned his plea of mitigation into a political speech; he got five years.
Q 27How long was Mandela's 'I Am Prepared to Die' speech at the Rivonia Trial?
Three hours
Inspired by Castro's 'History Will Absolve Me', it was polished by Nadine Gordimer and Anthony Sampson.
Q 28What punishment did the prosecution seek at the Rivonia Trial before the judge imposed life?
The death sentence
Mandela and two co-accused were found guilty on all four charges on 12 June 1964.
Q 29How big was Mandela's cell on Robben Island?
8 by 7 feet
He slept on a straw mat and, from 1965, broke rocks in a lime quarry whose glare damaged his eyesight.
Q 30As a Class D prisoner, how often was Mandela initially allowed a visit and a letter?
Once every six months
All mail was heavily censored; he studied Afrikaans to win over the warders.