God's Own Country

For the films, see God's Own Country (2014 film) and God's Own Country (2017 film).

God’s Own Country, is a phrase meaning an area or region supposedly favoured by God, that was first used to describe the Wicklow Mountains, most commonly refers to Yorkshire, and has subsequently been used to refer to several places, including Surrey, Australia, United States, New Zealand, Kerala state, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The phrase has been abbreviated to Godzone or less often Godzown.

Early uses

Ireland and England

The expression was first used to describe the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland by Edward du Bois, writing under the pseudonym "A Knight Errant" in 1807, and in a poem describing the English county of Surrey in 1839. The phrase was also used in its more literal meaning to refer to Heaven, in a poem by Elizabeth Harcourt Rolls Mitchell in 1857.

United States

The phrase later found sporadic use to describe several American regions. Most known is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was also used by the Confederate army to describe parts of Tennessee in the 1860s. The phrase was also used to describe California in the 1860s, and by Clement Laird Vallandigham to describe the land of the Mississippi plains. None of these remain widely used to describe a region, though it is still occasionally used to describe the United States overall.

During World War II, German Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels sarcastically mocked the USA as "Aus Gottes eigenem Land" (From God's Own Country) in an essay that appeared in the German newspaper Das Reich on August 9, 1942. Goebbels ridiculed America as a young land that lacked culture, education and history in contrast with Germany. In 1943, the Nazis published an anti-American, anti-semitic propaganda book written by Erwin Berghaus called "USA - nackt!: Bilddokumente aus Gottes eigenem Land" (USA naked! Photo documents from God's own country) which also mockingly characterized the USA with the phrase. Several modern German newspapers such as Die Welt, Der Tagesspiegel and Die Zeit have also used the phrase "Gottes eigenes Land" (God's own country) to criticize American culture and society.

New Zealand

The earliest recorded use of the phrase as applied to New Zealand was as the title of a poem about New Zealand written by Thomas Bracken. It was published in a book of his poems in 1890, and again in 1893 in a book entitled Lays and Lyrics: God's Own Country and Other Poems. God's Own Country as a phrase was often used and popularised by New Zealand's longest serving prime minister, Richard John Seddon. He last quoted it on 10 June 1906 when he sent a telegram to the Victorian premier, Thomas Bent, the day before leaving Sydney to return home to New Zealand. "Just leaving for God's own country," he wrote. He never made it, dying the next day on the ship Oswestry Grange. Bracken's God's Own Country is less well known internationally than God Defend New Zealand which he published in 1876. The latter poem, set to music by John Joseph Woods, was declared the country's national hymn in 1940, and made the second national anthem of New Zealand along with God Save the Queen in 1977.

Australia

In Australia, the phrase "God's own country" was often used to describe the country in the early 1900s, but it appears to have gradually fallen out of favour. The phrase "God's Country" is often used to describe Queensland and the Sutherland Shire in southern Sydney

Zimbabwe

The phrase "God's own country" was heard during the 1970s in Rhodesia (formerly: Southern Rhodesia, now: Zimbabwe), where most people perceived the land as beautiful despite the ongoing Bush War of the time. Evidence of the phrase being used earlier in reference to Rhodesia is found in Chartered Millions: Rhodesia and the Challenge to the British Commonwealth by John Hobbis Harris, published 1920 by Swarthmore Press (refer to page 27). The phrase "Godzone" is distinctly different and was not used in Rhodesia.

Kerala

Official logo of the Kerala Government Tourism Department.

Kerala is a state in south-west India, known as "God's own country", and is one of the popular tourist destinations in India. The phrase however is not an absolute meaning, was adopted as a slogan by the tourism department of the state's government in the 1980s when it was relatively unknown for promoting its tourism activities, in addition to marketing campaigns to boost the industry.

The reference of "God's own country" to Kerala can well be tracked to the event known as Thrippadidanam, by the then ruler Marthanda Varma Maharaja of Travancore. He decided to "donate" his realm to Sri Padmanabha (Vishnu) and thereafter rule as the deity's "vice-regent". The dedication took place on January 3, 1750 and thereafter he was referred to as Sree Padmanabhadasa. This event signifies is making the God as the owner and ruler of the country named Tranvancore, this making it the God's own country. Later, Tranvancore constituted Kerala along with Cochin, first and then Malabar, carrying forward the title of the God's own country to Kerala.

Yorkshire, United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the phrase is commonly used to describe Yorkshire, England's largest county. This is used interchangeably with God's Own County.