"Namibia, Land of the Brave" 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 ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, adopted in December 1991. It was composed by Axali Doëseb, who was the director of a traditional music group from the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...

. Doëseb was chosen to compose it after winning a contest held after Namibia became independent in 1990.

History

Namibia's first national anthem, albeit unofficial, was "" while under German colonization as German South-West Africa. After it became South-West Africa as a

League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I, involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing th ...

under the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, the national anthem was changed to " Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" to match South Africa's. Following independence, " Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" was provisionally adopted as a temporary national anthem pending the formal adoption of an official national anthem. It was later decided that Namibia needed a unique anthem, and a national competition was held to compose a new national anthem. The competition was won by Axali Doeseb with "Namibia, Land of the Brave". The anthem was first played in public in a ceremony on the first anniversary of Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1991. The similarity of the lyric's first-line phrase "Land of the Brave" to the end of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

", the national anthem of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, has been noted by commentators. The composition of the Namibian national anthem was supervised by

Hidipo Hamutenya Hidipo Livius Hamutenya (17 June 1939 – 6 October 2016) was a Namibian politician. He died aged 77 after a short illness. A long-time leading member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Hamutenya was a member of the Cabinet ...

, then chairman of the National Symbols subcommittee. In 2006, Hamutenya claimed that he authored the lyrics himself, "on the plane to Cuba". Doëseb denied this claim. In 2023, politicians Andrew Matjila and Ben Amadhila supported Hamutenya's claim.

Legislation

The Parliament of Namibia passed the National Anthem of the Republic of Namibia Act, 1991. This confirmed "Namibia, Land of the Brave" as the national anthem of Namibia; made it an offense to insult it, with punishment upon conviction of up to five years imprisonment or up to a 20,000- rand fine or both; and allowed the

President of Namibia The president of Namibia is the head of state and head of government of Namibia. The president directs the executive branch of the Government of Namibia, government, acts as chair of the Cabinet of Namibia, Cabinet and is the commander-in-chie ...

to create regulations relating to it.

Lyrics

References

External links

National anthem of Namibia (MIDI)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Namibia, Land of the Brave 1991 songs African anthems Music of Namibia National symbols of Namibia Compositions in C major