The phrase "
The Empire on which the sun never sets" has been used, with variations, to describe
global empires so large that at least one part of their
territory is always in
daylight. It has been used mainly of the
Spanish and
British empires.
Georg Büchmann traces the idea to a speech in
Herodotus'
Histories made by
Xerxes I of Persia before
invading Greece:
("we shall extend the Persian territory as far as God's heaven reaches. The sun will then shine on no land beyond our borders")
Spain
thumb|Settled areas of Philip II's empire, 1598.The phrase () was first used to describe the
Spanish Empire in the 16th century, and originated with a remark made by Fray Francisco de Ugalde to
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I of Spain). As emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire and king of
Spain Charles had an enormous
empire which included many territories in
Europe and vast territories in the
Americas.
The phrase gained added resonance during the reign of Charles's son, King
Philip II of Spain.
The Philippines was obtained by Spain in 1565. When King
Henry of Portugal died, Philip II was
recognised as King of Portugal in 1581, resulting in a
personal union of the crowns. He now reigned over all his father's possessions (except the Holy Roman Empire) and the
Portuguese global Empire, which included territories in
South America,
Africa,
Asia and islands in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
In 1585,
Giovanni Battista Guarini wrote
Il pastor fido to mark the marriage of
Catherine Michelle, daughter of Philip II, to
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. Guarini's dedication read
Altera figlia / Di qel Monarca, a cui / Nö anco, quando annotta, il Sol tramonta. ("The proud daughter / of that monarch to whom / when it grows dark [elsewhere] the sun never sets.")
In the early 17th century, the phrase was familiar to
John Smith of Jamestown, and to
Francis Bacon who writes: "both the East and the West Indies being met in the crown of Spain, it is come to pass, that, as one saith in a brave kind of expression, the sun never sets in the Spanish dominions, but ever shines upon one part or other of them : which, to say truly, is a beam of glory [...]"
Thomas Urquhart wrote of "that great Don Philippe, Tetrarch of the world, upon whose subjects the sun never sets."
In the German dramatist
Friedrich Schiller's 1787 play
Don Carlos, Don Carlos's father Philip II says ("I am called / The richest monarch in the Christian world; / The sun in my dominions never sets.")
Joseph Fouché recalled
Napoleon saying before the
Peninsular War, "Reflect that the sun never sets in the immense inheritance of Charles V, and that I shall have the empire of both worlds." This was cited in
Walter Scott's
Life of NapoleonIt has been claimed that
Louis XIV of France's emblem of the "Sun King" and associated motto
Nec pluribus impar were based on the solar emblem and motto of Philip II.
United Kingdom
thumb|The British Empire in 1919, at its greatest extent with wide presence on all inhabited ContinentsIn the 19th century, especially during the
Victorian era, it became popular to apply the image to the
British Empire. It was a time when British
world maps showed the Empire in red or pink to highlight British imperial power spanning the globe. Scottish author
John Wilson, writing as "Christopher North" in
Blackwood's Magazine in 1829, is sometimes credited as originating the usage.
However,
George Macartney wrote in 1773, in the wake of the territorial expansion that followed
Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War, of "this vast empire on which the sun never sets, and whose bounds nature has not yet ascertained" In a speech on 31 July 1827, Rev. R. P. Buddicom said, "It had been said that the sun never set on the British flag; it was certainly an old saying, about the time of
Richard the Second, and was not so applicable then as at the present time." In 1821, the
Caledonian Mercury wrote of the British Empire, "On her dominions the sun never sets; before his evening rays leave the spires of
Quebec, his morning beams have shone three hours on
Port Jackson, and while sinking from the waters of
Lake Superior, his eye opens upon the Mouth of the
Ganges."
Daniel Webster famously expressed a similar idea in 1834: "A power which has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions and military posts, whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England."
In 1839, Sir
Henry Ward said in the
House of Commons, "Look at the British Colonial empire — the most magnificent empire that the world ever saw. The old Spanish boast that the sun never set in their dominions, has been more truly realised amongst ourselves." By 1861,
Lord Salisbury complained that the £1.5 million spent on colonial defence by Britain merely enabled the nation "to furnish an agreeable variety of stations to our soldiers, and to indulge in the sentiment that the sun never sets on our Empire".
A well-known quip says that the reason sun never sets on the Empire is that God does not trust the British in the dark. This is attested from an 1865 speech by Rev. W. B. Brown of New Jersey in
Oakland, California; it has been attributed to
Abraham Lincoln, among others.
In
James Joyce's
Ulysses, when Mr Deasy asks
Stephen what an Englishman's proudest boast is, Stephen offers "That on his empire [...] the sun never sets." Mr Deasy retorts "That's not English. A French Celt said that." Critics suggest Mr Deasy was mistaken.
United States
"Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip",1898. The sunbeams of this famous cartoon are a visual reference to the expression.
From the mid-19th century, the image of the sun never setting can be found applied to
Anglophone culture, explicitly including America as well as Britain, for example in a speech by Alexander Campbell in 1852.
It was subsequently applied specifically to the American
sphere of influence. An 1897 magazine article titled "The Greatest Nation on Earth" boasted "the sun never sets on
Uncle Sam". In 1906,
William Jennings Bryan wrote "If we can not boast that the sun never sets on American territory, we can find satisfaction in the fact that the sun never sets on American philanthropy"; after which, the
New York Times received letters attempting to disprove his presupposition.
A 1991 history book discussion of
U.S. expansion says "Today ... the sun never sets on American territory, properties owned by the U.S. government and its citizens, American armed forces abroad, or countries that conduct their affairs within limits largely defined by American power."
Although the United States no longer has any possessions further west than
Guam or further east than the
Virgin Islands, it currently has military presence in
Afghanistan, the
British Indian Ocean Territory,
Germany,
Iraq,
Japan,
South Korea and other countries. The phrase is sometimes used critically with the implication of
American imperialism, as in the title of Joseph Gerson's book,
The Sun Never Sets: Confronting the Network of Foreign U.S. Military Bases.
See also
