Nelson Mandela's body has been laid to rest in a family plot after a state funeral service.
The funeral at Qunu in Eastern Cape province drew 4,500 guests, from relatives and African leaders to Britain's Prince Charles, American civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
As Mandela's coffin, covered by the South African flag, was borne from his homestead on a gun-carriage, a battery of cannons positioned on the hillside fired a 21-gun salute, sending booms echoing across the sun-drenched valley.
The coffin was followed into the tent by Mandela's grandson and heir, Mandla, and South African President Jacob Zuma.
Mandela died in Johannesburg on December 5, plunging his 53 million countrymen and millions more around the world into mourning, and triggering more than a week of official memorials to South Africa's first black president.
“It is the end of 95 glorious years of a freedom fighter, a dedicated and humble servant of the people of South Africa,” Zuma said in his eulogy at the funeral ceremony.
“Whilst the long walk to freedom has ended in the physical sense, our own journey continues. We have to continue building the type of society you worked tirelessly to construct. We have to take the legacy forward,” he said.