Cuban leader Fidel Castro: a life in pictures

It was as a young radical that Fidel Castro debuted on the international stage, inspiring his supporters and overthrowing the Cuban government.

The year was 1959 and within weeks the bearded, cigar-smoking rebel had become Cuba’s leader, a title he held onto for the rest of his life.

To many, Castro — who has died aged 90 — was a romantic revolutionary, a persuasive and moving speaker who had the affection of his people.

His longevity and the stability of his tenure as the top figure in Cuban politics withstood the fall of the Soviet empire and the unravelling of Communist doctrine in China.

This is his life in pictures:

Nov 27, 2016, updated Nov 27, 2016

1/19Fidel Castro flanked by bodyguards in 2006.

2/19Castro with Soviet heavyweights, 1960.

3/19Castro and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev clasp hands in Moscow's Red Square, 1963.

4/19Castro (right) with guerrilla leader Ernesto Che Guevara in Havana in the 1960s.

5/19Castro with Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

6/19Fidel Castro with revolutionary rebels in 1959.

7/19Castro and the late Nelson Mandela in 1991.

8/19Castro attends a gala for his 90th birthday at the 'Karl Marx' theatre in Havana.

9/19American author Ernest Hemingway with Castro in 1959.

10/19Castro pictured in 1955, sans beard.

11/19Fidel Castro with Australian marathon swimmer Susie Maroney, who crossed from Jamaica to Cuba in 1999.

12/19Fidel Castro practices his batting with members of the Cuban national baseball team, 2000.

13/19Fidel Castro waves to the people in Havana on January 8, 1959.

14/19Castro, the anti-Batista guerrilla leader, in the mountains of Cuba, 1957.

15/19Castro addresses the audience at the Karl Marx theatre in Havana, 2005.

16/19Fidel Castro is quizzed by groundbreaking journalist Barbara Walters in 1975. <i>Photo: AAP</i>

17/19Following Castro's death, members of the Cuban community gather on Calle Ocho.

18/19Castro smokes during an interview with Time magazine in 1979.

19/19Walking the Great Wall of China, 1995.