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By Janell Hazelwood | Published October 31, 2011 | Full size is 620 × 480 pixels

NELSON MANDELA: Before becoming one of the most prolific figures in African history—and the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election—Mandela was an adoptee. Upon his birth father's death, Mandela was adopted as a young child by a tribal chief in his native East Cape Province, South Africa. After his adopted father died, he was again adopted, at the age of 9, by a tribal official and would grow up under his parenting until his late teens.

NELSON MANDELA: Before becoming one of the most prolific figures in African history—and the first…