Invested early on with the mantles of late icons, civil rights leader Martin Luther King and inspirational president John F Kennedy, Democrat Obama has ignited his country and the world with his message of hope, unity and change.
In his acceptance speech to supporters in Chicago, Obama said that a new dawn of American leadership was at hand and stressed the shared destiny of the United States and the rest of the world.
"It's been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," he said in front of a crowd of 65 000 people.
'Bitter-sweet time'
He continued: "All of those watching tonight from beyond our shores, in the parliament and in the palaces, those huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular but our destiny is shared.
"A new dawn of American leadership is at hand," he said to applause.
"To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you.
"We have proved that the true strength of our nation comes not from the scale of our wealth but from the power of our ideals - opportunity, democracy, liberty and hope."
He paid tribute to his campaign team, his wife, children and recently deceased grandmother.
'Their names aren't in the newspapers'
"Along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure," he said.
He added: "I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements.
"Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms and the front porches of Charleston."
When Obama launched what he called his "improbable quest" on the steps of the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois, in February 2007, he was seen as the rank outsider.
But with unflagging energy and verve, he took on the political establishment, defeating former first lady Hillary Clinton in the party primaries, overturned the perception that America was not ready to vote for a black president, and crushed the weight of the Republican attack machine.
Four short years ago, Obama was just a little-known but charismatic Chicago politician with a ready smile, who wowed the 2004 Democratic convention with a dazzling speech.
"There is not a black America, and white America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America," he proclaimed then.
It was a message he has used to ignite a new fervor and excitement in a country angered by the economic crisis which has dragged down the world's top economy and sickened by the Iraq war.
In defying the odds, the 47-year-old Illinois senator has reshaped conventional wisdom on how to pay for a successful White House bid by harnessing the Internet as a powerful fund-raising tool.
His campaign also put together a formidable grass-roots organisation, especially in key battleground states, which in the end gave him an unstoppable momentum towards the White House.
The son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, Obama has sought to rise above the issue of race and project himself as the candidate for all Americans.
But his victory on Tuesday will remain bittersweet for Obama, after the woman who raised him to believe he would be whatever he wanted to be passed away just hours before his crowning moment.
His white maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, whom he called "Toot" lost her battle with cancer in her home on Hawaii, never living to see Obama realize the aspirations of generations.
In a rare show of emotion, from a man who has been seen as cool and collected throughout the gruelling 21-month campaign, tears streamed down Obama's face Monday at a North Carolina rally.
His voice thick with grief, Obama said this was a "bitter-sweet time for me. She is going home".
Obama recapped his grandmother's life from her birth in 1922 and her marriage to his grandfather, their struggles through the Great Depression and with his infant mother through World War II.
"She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America," said Obama.
"They're not famous. Their names aren't in the newspapers," he said, vowing to fight for all the country's quiet heroes.
Born in Hawaii on August 4 1961, Obama's path to the White House has not been backed by the privilege and wealth often enjoyed by past candidates.
His father left when he was just two, and the young Obama later moved to Indonesia with his mother, Ann, when she re-married.
He spent several years in Jakarta, before returning to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents when he was in his teens.
After attending Columbia University in New York, Obama went to the elite Harvard Law School, where he was the first black American to be president of the influential Harvard Law Review.
It was while working at a Chicago law firm that he met and then married Michelle, a fellow lawyer, in 1992. The couple has two young daughters, Malia 10, and Sasha, seven.
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