The empire on which the sun never sets

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An anachronous map showing areas pertaining to the Spanish Empire at various times over a period exceeding 400 years. For detailed key click on map. The Spanish colonial empire at its territorial height in 1790. Regions of influence (explored/claimed but never controlled or vice versa) or short-lived / disputed colonies. Portuguese possessions ruled jointly under the Spanish sovereign, 1580–1640. Territories lost at, or prior to, the 1714 Peace of Utrecht. Spanish Morocco and Spanish West Africa, 1884–1975.

An anachronous map of British (and prior to the existence of the UK, English) imperial possessions

Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue — plain and hachured) French colonial empires.

"The Empire on which the sun never sets" (Spanish: el imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol, Portuguese: o império no qual o sol nunca se põe) was first used to describe the Spanish Empire in the 16th century, and originates with a remark of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I of Spain), who declared "in my realm the sun never sets."

In the 19th century it became popular to apply the phrase to the British Empire, especially during the Victorian era, when British world maps coloured the Empire in red or pink, vividly highlighting British imperial power spanning the globe. The 19th-century politician Lord Salisbury complained that the £1.5 million spent on colonial defence by Britain in 1861 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 Sri Lankan news source credits Colvin R. de Silva with coining the famous response: "That's because God does not trust the British in the dark."^[1]

Although the phrase has fallen out of British political usage, it remains true today that the sun still does not set on the British overseas territories or the Commonwealth Realms of which Elizabeth II is head of state, or for that matter on the French overseas departments and territories.

The phrase is still used to allude to global presence, such as for multinational corporations with worldwide offices, or indeed for perceived imperialism on the part of the United States of America.