The empire on which the sun never sets

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[edit] Spanish Empire (1492-1898)

The Spanish-Portuguese empire in the period of personal union under the Habsburgs (1581-1640) Red/Pink - Spanish Empire Blue/Light Blue - Portuguese Empire
The Spanish-Portuguese empire in the period of personal union under the Habsburgs (1581-1640)
Red/Pink - Spanish Empire
Blue/Light Blue - Portuguese Empire

The phrase "The Empire on which the sun never sets" (Spanish: El imperio en el que nunca se pone el sol) 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."[citation needed]

When Charles was king, Spain had an enormous empire which included the Kingdom of Castile and León (with all its American possessions - all of the Americas, except Brazil, parts of Canada and the southwestern part of the United States), the Kingdom of Aragon (with all its mediterranean possessions - including Sicily, the Balearic islands, Sardinia and the kingdom of Naples), the Netherlands and others.

But the empire would become even greater with King Philip II of Spain, the son of Charles I and Isabella of Portugal. When King Henry of Portugal died, Philip II was recognised as King of Portugal in 1581, in a personal union of the crowns. He now owned all his father's possessions (except the Holy Roman Empire) and all the Portuguese Empire (Brazil, Ceylon, Portuguese India, Portuguese Africa, Timor, Macau, Madeira and Azores, amongst others). The Philippines were also obtained by Spain in 1565 together with insular territories such as Guam and the rest of Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands. The joint Portuguese and Spanish empire was maintained until 1640, while Philip IV was king, when Portugal again reverted to a Portuguese royal dynasty, the House of Braganza.

[edit] British Empire (c.1497-1997)

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

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.

[edit] United States of America (1898-Present)

This cartoon from 1898: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" shows the extension of American overseas expansion (symbolized by a bald eagle) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines in the late Nineteenth Century.
This cartoon from 1898: "Ten Thousand Miles From Tip to Tip" shows the extension of American overseas expansion (symbolized by a bald eagle) from Puerto Rico to the Philippines in the late Nineteenth Century.

From the mid-19th century, the phrase can be found applied to Anglophone culture, explicitly including America as well as Britain, for example in a speech by Alexander Campbell in 1852.[2] It subsequently was applied specifically to the American sphere of influence; an early example is an article of 1897 which "boasted" that "the sun never sets on Uncle Sam"[3]. One recent textbook expanded: "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."[4] Although the United States no longer has any possessions further west than Guam or east than the Virgin Islands, it currently has military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Diego Garcia and many 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. But it can also be intended positively, for example in acknowledging the world-wide scope of American commercial power.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peter`s denial: Tiger by the tale. Sri Lanka News. Sunday, 13 March 2005. The quip has also been ascribed to Princeton professor Duncan Spaeth and others.
  2. ^ "To Britain and America God has granted the possession of the new world; and because the sun never sets upon our religion, our language and our arts..."Speeches of Alexander Campbell.
  3. ^ Cited by Kaitlyn Kaiser
  4. ^ The Reader's Companion to American History
  5. ^ E.g. Time Magazine referring to Ginn & Co. publishing, or an internet reference to Dow Chemicals.


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