Coat of arms of Jamaica

The coat of arms of Jamaica is one of the oldest colonial coat of arms.

Description

The Coat of Arms is a silver shield with a red cross, which is topped with five golden pineapples according to the figure. On the shield rests a royal golden helmet with a red cap and a gold - silver helmet cover. The Helmwulst is red and silver. The crest formed a green crocodile on a tree trunk in natural color.

The sign holders are people in natural colors and with uncovered upper body. Links decorated with a crown of feathers Arawak man, a bow with his left hand holding the left and a Arawak woman, holding a basket of fruit under his right arm. Both are red and white dressed and decorated with red feathers, the woman also with an ermine collar.

Under the shield is a silver banner with the state motto in black capital letters Out Of Many, One People ( " Out of many, one people" ).

Symbolism

The red will be presented today except in the interior of the helmet and the cross on the shield in a pink -like, almost purple color. The banner is also displayed in this color.

The red cross corresponds to the George Cross in the flag of England, the American crocodile is the largest native vertebrate Jamaica, the pineapple was cultivated before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in Jamaica. The Arawak were the indigenous inhabitants of Jamaica.

History

The coat of arms was the colony of Jamaica awarded in February 1662, making it one of the oldest colonial coat of arms. It should have been designed by the later 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, William Croft sand, or by his predecessor William Luxon. Its elements were used in different variants on the colonial flag ( Blue Ensign ), first as plaque, from 1906 as a coat of arms in a white disk.

First small changes are documented for 1692. Changes in 1957 related to, inter alia, the color of the helmet (originally silver ) and the helmet cover (originally red instead of golden ). With the independence of Jamaica, 1962, the old Latin motto Indus was uterque serviet uni ( "Both India will serve a ") by the modern English replaced. The color of the band was saying at the start of Grey, later changed to gold and finally to today's purple.

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