Jamaica became independent from the United Kingdom on August 6, 1962.
The date is celebrated annually as Jamaica’s Independence Day. The United Kingdom’s Jamaica Independence Act received royal assent on July 19, 1962, and took effect on August 6. Jamaica joined the Commonwealth and became the first English-speaking country in the West Indies to achieve full independence.
Jamaica’s route to independence included growing self-government after World War II and a brief period in the West Indies Federation, a political union of British Caribbean territories. In a 1961 referendum, Jamaican voters chose to leave the federation, clearing the way for separate independence.
Sir Alexander Bustamante became the country’s first prime minister. Princess Margaret represented Queen Elizabeth II at the independence celebrations and opened Jamaica’s first parliamentary session. The Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago also became independent, but on different dates.