"Jamaica, Land We Love" is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, officially adopted in July 1962. It was chosen after a competition from September 1961 to 31 March 1962, in which the lyrics of the national anthem were selected by Jamaica's Houses of Parliament. When Jamaica was granted independence on 6 August 1962, "Jamaica, Land We Love" continued to be officially used as the national anthem.

History

Prior to the declaration of the

independence of Jamaica The Colony of Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. In Jamaica, this date is celebrated as Independence Day, a national holiday. The island became an imperial colony in 1509 when Spain conquered the Indigenous ...

, Jamaica was made a

West Indies Federation The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that ...

province of the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...

, still under the rule of the United Kingdom. The nation entered the federation under the rule of Premier

Norman Manley Norman Washington Manley (4 July 1893 – 2 September 1969) was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar, Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate ...

, who also made various constitutional amendments to allow the process of

decolonisation Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

to rapidly take place. These amendments also allowed the country to have more self-governing powers and permitted the formation of a cabinet led by a

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. Premier Norman Manley's participation in the West Indies Federation was unpopular and led to the independence of the country on 6 August 1962, and the national anthem selected in July 1962 was officially used from that date. In September 1961, the leading

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

announced a competition to write the lyrics of Jamaica's future national anthem, which would be judged by selected members of Jamaica's Houses of Parliament. The competition received almost 100 script entries, and the competition closed on 31 March 1962, after this ending date was decided on 17 March. The Houses of Parliament were given two options of anthems to vote for on 19 July 1962, and a script was chosen with an overwhelming majority. The winning script was written by Reverend Hon. Hugh Sherlock, the music was composed by Hon. Robert Lightbourne, and the anthem was arranged by Mapletoft Poulle and Christine Alison Poulle.

Lyrics

References

External links

Jamaican National Anthem
on Jamaican government site
Richie Stephens performs Jamaica's National Anthem
on SoundCloud {{authority control Jamaican songs North American anthems National symbols of Jamaica National anthems Songs about Jamaica National anthem compositions in C major 1962 songs