Work / monument · song

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

1897 · 19th century

"Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("Lord Bless Africa") was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa teacher at a Methodist mission school near Johannesburg. He wrote it as a hymn of a single stanza in Xhosa, in B-flat major, with four-part harmony carrying a repetitive melody that draws on both Western hymn writing and South African melody.

Songs in history

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika1897

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nkosi-sikelel-iafrika
MLA
“Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nkosi-sikelel-iafrika. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nkosi-sikelel-iafrika.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nkosi-sikelel-iafrika (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻