Anthems Trinidad and Guyana

Trinidad
Forged from the love of liberty
In the fires of hope and prayer
With boundless faith in our destiny
We solemnly declare:
Side by side we stand
Islands of the blue Caribbean sea,
This our native land
We pledge our lives to thee.
Here every creed and race finds an equal place,
And may God bless our nation
Here every creed and race finds an equal place,
And may God bless our nation.

Guyana
Dear land of Guyana, of rivers and plains,
Made rich by the sunshine, and lush by the rains.
Set gem-like and fair, between mountains and sea,
Your children salute you, dear land of the free.
Green land of Guyana, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsmen and free, laid their bones on your shore.
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one mother, Guyana the free.
Great land of Guyana, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains.
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see,
One land of six peoples, united and free.
Dear land of Guyana, to you will we give,
Our homage, our service, each day that we live.
God guard you, Great Mother, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage, land of the free.

I picked the Trinidadian and Guyanese anthems because of their similar background in the Commonwealth. Both countries have an English speaking African/ Indian Majority. The landmasses are located in the Caribbean Sea the only difference in the two landmasses are that Trinidad and Tobago are islands versus Guyana which is contained part of South America. However they have different anthems like sister countries Bengal and India. Guyana's anthem is comprised of a concentration of the violent freedom of their countries and the blessings of their lush country. Trinidad's anthem consist more of Unity, Liberty, and Equality.

It is strange that both countries have very different anthems yet they are very similar in background. Looking further detail into both countries histories there is a reason as to why there are strong differences in the anthems. Trinidad and Guyana became independent states in the 1960s. They are considered the beauties of their respective areas. Yet the violence involved in Guyanese anthem is related to the fight for freedom but it is not because of their secession from the British Empire rather it is because of the indentured states which basically enslaved the mass population, not to say that Trinidad is not comprised of the same population but the difference is this indentured state lasted longer in Guyana. Also there is constant border disputes with rival Suriname. The Guyanese population does consist of a violent past, many elections held in the state were comprised of violent riots. Upon further inspection of the Trinidadian anthem, one can see that it seeks unity not just between the people but between the two island states that make up the country, something that Guyana does not have with its neighboring states.

While both states seek and maintain their freedom Trinidad keeps a harmonious anthem versus Guyana who has a war based anthem. The societal place of an anthem keeps the population united and proud. It is interesting to see to neighboring states sharing the same difference in characteristics as the Indian and Bengali anthems. These two anthems are both beautiful and representative of their respective countries.