Countries where the sun never sets
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Last updated: Tuesday April 6th, 2021
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Last updated: Tuesday April 6th, 2021
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I had an idea for a neat quiz where you have to guess all of the countries in the world where the sun never sets, like the old adage, "The sun never sets on the British Empire." Unfortunately, it seems the only country for which this still holds true is France.
I took a pretty unforgiving definition of the concept, deciding that "never" means never. If at any minute, the sun is setting or is below the horizon for all of the territories of a country (I didn't count claims on the Antarctica mainland because nobody takes those seriously) at any day of the year, then it is disqualified. The United States comes close, but for an hour during the December Solstice (and presumably the surrounding days), everything from the Virgin Islands to Guam are shrouded in darkness. For the UK, the two farthest points are Cyprus (the British parts) and the Pitcairn Islands, both of which are darkness with Britain in between them. Seriously, it's actually astounding how Cyprus, the Falklands, and the Pitcairn Islands all line up right near the edge of night. Norway also came close with their great variety in latitude (Svalbard in the North to Peter I Island in the South), but unfortunately they all share similar longitude, so during the equinoxes Norway and her dependencies share a night.
I just thought it was interesting that only France qualified. Not very good quiz material. If you think I missed something, go ahead and comment.
I took a pretty unforgiving definition of the concept, deciding that "never" means never. If at any minute, the sun is setting or is below the horizon for all of the territories of a country (I didn't count claims on the Antarctica mainland because nobody takes those seriously) at any day of the year, then it is disqualified. The United States comes close, but for an hour during the December Solstice (and presumably the surrounding days), everything from the Virgin Islands to Guam are shrouded in darkness. For the UK, the two farthest points are Cyprus (the British parts) and the Pitcairn Islands, both of which are darkness with Britain in between them. Seriously, it's actually astounding how Cyprus, the Falklands, and the Pitcairn Islands all line up right near the edge of night. Norway also came close with their great variety in latitude (Svalbard in the North to Peter I Island in the South), but unfortunately they all share similar longitude, so during the equinoxes Norway and her dependencies share a night.
I just thought it was interesting that only France qualified. Not very good quiz material. If you think I missed something, go ahead and comment.