The sun never sets on British Empire!!??

Question:we have a history test tomorrow and our history teacher gave us some time to review for tomorrow in class. And accidently i saw the test sheet on her table i started to take notes of the questions but i'm getting stuck on this question.
1. What does this phrase mean: The sun never sets on British Empire?

What does that really mean, help me please

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: we have a history test tomorrow and our history teacher gave us some time to review for tomorrow in class. And accidently i saw the test sheet on her table i started to take notes of the questions but i'm getting stuck on this question.
1. What does this phrase mean: The sun never sets on British Empire?

What does that really mean, help me please

At its height the British Empire controlled about 1/4 of the land on Earth. It had colonies in pretty much every time zone, so hypothetically it was always daytime in some part of the British Empire, hence "the sun never sets".

Mark Twain said, "because God never trusts an Englishman in the dark."
At the time, the Empire was on eery continent and most islands, so that at any given moment in the day, the sun was shining on the empire.

it means the British empire is always great, and that the British Empire will never fall, or be conquered

also, it may mean that since, at one time the British empire was so large, it covered so much land on the earth, somwhere in the empire the sun was shining.