Flag of Jamaica

What the flag means

The Jamaica Information Service sums up the colours as 'the sun shineth, the land is green and the people are strong and creative'. Black is the strength and creativity of the people, gold the country's wealth and sunlight, and green hope and farming. A government paper of 22 May 1962 had linked black to hardships; the wording changed in 1996.

History

A national design competition in 1961 drew more than 360 entries but produced no winner, so a bipartisan committee of the House of Representatives designed the flag early in 1962. An earlier version with horizontal stripes was dropped as too close to the flag of Tanganyika, and the saltire took its place. The flag was first raised at midnight on 5 August 1962, as Jamaica became independent.

Since Mauritania changed its flag in 2017, Jamaica's has been the only national flag with no red, white or blue.