(CNN) -- World leaders rushed to congratulate Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday following his historic victory in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
U.S. president-elect's grandmother Sarah Obama celebrates in Kenya after hearing the result.
And across the globe, people in city squares and villages, living rooms and shacks cheered his success, boosting hopes that America's first black commander-in-chief might herald a more conciliatory approach to the rest of the world.
Thousands of people have been posting messages on CNN blogs congratulating Obama and America after his victory over Republican rival John McCain.
Basimane Bogopa, from Botswana, said: "Americans have shown once again, why they are world leaders. Obama's victory has shown me that the American dream is real, you just have to dream. My heart is filled with joy."
Yvonne Okwara, from Kenya, wrote: "Obama's win is so personal to so many of us, it continues to amaze me. One thing America has taught us today is that true democracy never dies." iReport.com: Share your thoughts on U.S. election
Leading the congratulations by world leaders, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described a "vital" relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and said he was excited about the prospect of working with the new U.S. president.
"I know Barack Obama and we share many values," he said. "And I look forward to working extremely closely with him in the coming months and years." German Chancellor Angela Merkel also offered her congratulations and said she would work with Obama to deal with the challenges facing the world.
"I'm convinced that through a close and trusting cooperation between the United States and Europe we will be able to confront new risks and challenges in a decisive manner and will be able to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that are opening up in our world," Merkel said.
"Rest assured that my government appreciates hugely the meaning and value of the transatlantic relationship for our common future."
Obama met both Brown and Merkel over the summer while on an international trip through Europe and the Middle East and held a huge rally in Berlin that revived memories of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 visit.
Chinese President Hu Jintao offered similar congratulations, urging Obama to join China in shouldering "important common responsibilities."
"I look forward to endeavor together with you," he said. "To push the Sino-U.S. constructive and cooperative relations to a new level, in order to better benefit our two peoples and the peoples of the world."
In Kenya, Obama's extended family danced in his ancestral village of Kogelo, chanting, "Barack Obama, Barack Obama is going to the White House."
Obama's grandmother, half-brother and relatives eagerly watched the election results, while in the capital Nairobi, revelers marched and danced through the streets to sirens and whistles, singing Obama's name and carrying and waving American flags. Blog from Kogelo, Kenya
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called Obama's election "a momentous day not only in the history of the United States of America, but also for us in Kenya. The victory of Senator Obama is our own victory because of his roots here in Kenya. As a country, we are full of pride for his success."
Kibaki declared Thursday a public holiday in honor of Obama's victory. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he wept as he watched Obama deliver his victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park.
Powell, in an interview with CNN in Hong Kong, said he believed Obama had the potential to be a great president and asked Americans -- including Republicans -- to get behind Obama.
But, Powell cautioned, the United States still had a long way to go to repair race relations. Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself but endorsed Obama towards the end of the campaign.
"Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigor. He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well," Powell said Wednesday.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama lived with his mother and stepfather in the late 1960s, hundreds of students at his old elementary school poured into the playground and danced in the rain, some chanting "Obama! Obama!" The Associated Press reported.
In a Japanese town bearing Obama's name, jubilation took a few minutes to translate from the group of American teachers to the local crowd, which also cheered "O-ba-ma!" CNN's Kyung Lah blogged. Blog from Obama, Japan
Obama cakes, chopsticks, T-shirts and kimonos carry an "I (heart) Obama" on them. A band penned a song "Obama is a beautiful world," and a party was about to get under way, Lah said. Financial markets in Asia were higher Wednesday as traders were hopeful that Obama could successfully tackle the global economic crisis. But in Europe and later on Wall Street the main markets were down by at least 1 percent. Read what Obama must do to tackle crisis
Blogs
Amid unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets, Wall Street is desperate for an end to the uncertainty that has built up over the two-year campaign.
At an election party in Paris, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde highlighted the financial crisis as Obama's priority when he takes office. She told CNN's Jim Bittermann she expected the president-elect to be "clearly involved" in the upcoming financial summit hosted by President George W. Bush.
In an open letter to Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy offered "my warmest congratulations, and through me, those of the entire French people."
He said Obama's election raised in France, in Europe and around the world "an immense hope" and that the American people "had expressed with force their faith in progress and the future."
One CNN reader Toby Nevin wrote on a blog: "I stayed up through the night to watch from Paris. What a wonderful moment. It seems that the tide has turned from division and fear towards hope, responsibility and unity.
"Obama is a great leader for a United States of America that deserves him as a guide through these troubled times. Let us all remember our engagement to this spirit of positive change!"
In two nations where the U.S. is involved in wars, Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the American people have taken "themselves ... and the rest of the world into a new era, the era where race, color and ethnicity ... will also disappear as a factor in politics in the rest of the world."
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said: "We look forward to relations between our two countries that witness, during your rule, further consolidation and development in all different fields, based on a firm contractual ground, common interests and similar values."
In addition to the global financial crisis, Obama's challenges include Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and relations with Syria -- challenges the Middle Eastern media have dubbed "the hot files."
In an analysis piece, CNN's Octavia Nasr said most commentators and citizens in the Middle East favored an Obama win. But his inheritance of Bush's policies amid a rise in fundamentalism, longstanding conflicts, and a failing world economy meant "an already full plate ... and that is just one region of the world."
Iran's Deputy Parliament Speaker Mohammad Hossein Abutorabifard offered a mild note of optimism to traditionally thorny relations between his country and Washington. "Obama can change the defeated Bush policies and in so doing can play an important role in the future relations between the U.S. and Asia and the Middle East," he said.
"... If the United States takes into consideration the realities of the world and chooses suitable policies, America can play its (proper) role in the relations between the United States and the countries of the region and the world of Islam."
"... It seems that this election has prepared the ground for a revision in the Democrats' and Obama's future policies of the United States."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Obama on his victory and said he was hoping for constructive dialogue with the incoming U.S. president.
Medvedev said there was "substantial positive potential" to improve relations that were damaged by Russia's war in August with neighboring Georgia, but more must be done.
In Russia, Pravda newspaper was ecstatic, announcing that "Eight years of hell are over." It proceeded to catalog George W. Bush's perceived failures and slights against Russia and criticized the cost of the "grand American soap opera" during a time of economic crisis.
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