{{short description|Territory over which the British government exercised limited jurisdiction}} {{for|the period during the Commonwealth of England|The Protectorate}} {{Use British English|date=June 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
'''British protectorates''' were protectorates under the jurisdiction of the British government. Many territories that became British protectorates already had local rulers with whom the Crown negotiated through a treaty, acknowledging their status whilst simultaneously offering protection. British protectorates were therefore governed by indirect rule. In most cases, the local ruler, as well as the subjects of the ruler, were not British subjects, but rather British protected persons. '''British protected states''' represented a looser form of British suzerainty, where the local rulers retained absolute control over the states' internal affairs and the British exercised control over defence and foreign affairs.{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|pp=50–51}}
==History== ===Implementation===
When the British took over Cephalonia in 1809, they proclaimed, "We present ourselves to you, Inhabitants of Cephalonia, not as invaders, with views of conquest, but as allies who hold forth to you the advantages of British protection."<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Papers respecting the operations in the Adriatic, 1809 |title=Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons |publisher=Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons |year=1816 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS5bAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA18-PA2 }}</ref> When the British continued to occupy the Ionian Islands after the Napoleonic Wars, they did not formally annex the islands but described them as a protectorate. The islands were constituted by the Treaty of Paris in 1815 as the independent United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection. Similarly, Malta was a British protectorate between the French capitulation in 1800 and the Treaty of Paris of 1814. The princely states of India were another example of indirect rule during the time of Empire.<ref>Lakshmi Iyer, "Direct versus indirect colonial rule in India: Long-term consequences." ''The Review of Economics and Statistics'' (2010) 92#4 pp. 693–713 [http://www.people.hbs.edu/liyer/Iyer_Colonial_REStat.pdf online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903053002/http://www.people.hbs.edu/liyer/Iyer_Colonial_REStat.pdf |date=3 September 2014 }}</ref> So too were many of the West African holdings.<ref>Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, ''The Warrant Chiefs: indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria, 1891–1929'' (London: Longman, 1972)</ref>
Other British protectorates followed. In the Pacific Ocean, the sixteen islands of the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati) were declared a British protectorate by Captain Davis R.N., of {{HMS|Royalist|1883|6}} between 27 May and 17 June 1892. The ''Royalist'' also visited each of the Ellice Islands, and islanders requested Captain Davis to raise the British flag, but he did not have instructions to declare the Ellice Islands as a protectorate.<ref name="JRdd">{{cite web |first= Jane|last= Resture|title= ''TUVALU HISTORY'' – 'The Davis Diaries' (''H.M.S. Royalist'', 1892 visit to Ellice Islands under Captain Davis)|url= http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm|website=Janeresture.com|access-date=20 September 2011}}</ref> The nine islands of the Ellice Group (now Tuvalu) were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson R.N., of {{HMS|Curacoa|1878|6}}, between 9 and 16 October of the same year.<ref name="TAHNPT">{{cite book |last1=Faaniu |first1=Simati |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWaSHqXlS30C |title=Tuvalu: A History |publisher=University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu |year=1983 |editor-last=Laracy |editor-first=Hugh |pages=127–139 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 17, Colonial Rule}}</ref> Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands in June 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of {{HMS|Curacoa|1878|6}}, declared the southern Solomon Islands as a British protectorate with the proclamation of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.<ref>''Commonwealth and Colonial Law'' by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 897</ref>
In 1894, Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone's government officially announced that Uganda, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention, was to become a British protectorate. The British administration installed carefully selected local kings under a programme of indirect rule through the local oligarchy, creating a network of British-controlled civil service. Most British protectorates were overseen by a Commissioner or a High Commissioner, under the Foreign Office, rather than a Governor under the Colonial Office.
British law made a distinction between a protectorate and a protected state. Constitutionally, the two were of similar status, in which Britain provided controlled defence and external relations. However, a protectorate had an internal government established, while a protected state established a form of local internal self-government based on the already existing one. Persons connected with a former British protectorate, protected state, mandated territory or trust territory may remain British Protected Persons if they did not acquire the nationality of the country at independence. The last British protectorate proper was the British Solomon Islands, now Solomon Islands, which gained independence in 1978; the last British protected state was Brunei, which gained full independence in 1984.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Brunei/History | title=Brunei – History | Britannica }}</ref>
== List of former British protectorates ==
===Americas=== *{{flag|Mosquito Coast}} (1638–1787, 1844–1860) (over Central America's Mosquito people)
===Arab world===
*{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Aden Protectorate (1872–1963); precursor state of South Yemen{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=51}} **Eastern Protectorate States (mostly in Haudhramaut); later the {{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} Protectorate of South Arabia (1963–1967) ***{{flagicon image|Kathiri flag.svg}} Kathiri ***{{flagicon image|Flag of the Mahra Sultanate.svg}} Mahra ***{{flagicon image|Flag of the Qu'aiti Sultanate from 1939 until 1967.svg}} Qu'aiti ***{{flag|Upper Yafa}} (consisted of five Sheikhdoms) ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Al-Busi ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Al-Dhubi ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Hadrami ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Maflahi ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Mawsata ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Hawra ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Irqa **Western Protectorate States; later the {{flagicon image|Flag of the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South.svg}} Federation of the Emirates of South Arabia (1959–1962) and the {{flag|Federation of South Arabia}} (1962–1967), including {{flagdeco|Aden}} Aden Colony ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Wahidi Sultanates ****{{flagicon image|Flag of Wahidi Balhaf.svg}} Wahidi Balhaf ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Wahidi Azzan ****{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Wahidi Bir Ali ****{{flagicon image|Flag of Wahidi Haban.svg}} Wahidi Haban ***{{flag|Beihan}} ***{{flag|Dhala}} and Qutaibi ***{{flag|Fadhli}} ***{{flag|Lahej}} ***{{flagicon image|Flag of Lower Yafa.svg}} Lower Yafa ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Audhali ***{{flagicon image|Flag of Haushabi.svg}} Haushabi ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Upper Aulaqi Sheikhdom ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Upper Aulaqi Sultanate ***{{flagicon image|Lower `Awlaqi.png}} Lower Aulaqi ***{{flagicon image|علم مشيخة العقربي.png}} Alawi ***{{flagicon image|علم مشيخة العقربي.png}} Aqrabi ***{{flag|Dathina}} ***{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Shaib *{{flag|Sultanate of Egypt}} (1914–1922) *{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} {{flagdeco|Kingdom of Egypt}} Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956) (condominium with Egypt)
===Asia===
*{{flag|North Borneo}} (1888–1946) *{{flagdeco|British Raj}} Various Princely states (1845–1947) – The princely states were lower in status than protectorates as the British reserved the right to interfere in internal matters under the principle of British Paramountcy. *{{flagdeco|Maldives|1926}} Sultanate of Maldives (1887–1948)<ref name="mi">{{cite web|url=https://maldivesindependent.com/politics/timeline-story-of-independence-115638|title=Timeline – Story of Independence|access-date=11 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727112628/https://maldivesindependent.com/politics/timeline-story-of-independence-115638|archive-date=27 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> – Became a protected state after 1948.
===Europe===
*{{flagicon image|Flag of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.svg}} Anglo-Corsican Kingdom (1794–1796) *{{flag|British Cyprus|1881}} (1878–1914) (put under British military administration 1914–22 then proclaimed a Crown colony 1922–60) *{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} {{flagdeco|Two Sicilies|1815}} Malta Protectorate (1800–1813); {{flagdeco|Malta|1814}} Crown Colony of Malta proclaimed in 1813) (de jure part of the Kingdom of Sicily but under British protection) *{{flagicon image|Flag of the United States of the Ionian Islands.svg}} Ionian islands (1815–1864) (a Greek state and amical protectorate of Great Britain between 1815 and 1864)
===Sub-Saharan Africa===
*{{flagdeco|Company rule in Rhodesia}} Barotziland–North-Western Rhodesia (1899–1911) *{{flag|Bechuanaland Protectorate}} (1885–1966) *{{flag|British Somaliland}} (1884–1920){{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=51}} *{{flagicon image|Flag of British Central Africa Protectorate.svg}} British Central Africa Protectorate (1893–1907) *{{flag|East Africa Protectorate}} (1895–1920) *{{flagdeco|Gambia|colonial}} Gambia Protectorate* (1894–1965) *{{flagdeco|Kenya Colony}} Kenya Protectorate* (1920–1963) *{{flagicon image|Flag of Lagos Colony (1888–1906).svg}} Lagos Protectorate* (1862–1906) *{{flagdeco|Company rule in Rhodesia}} Mashonaland Protectorate (1891–1923) *{{flagdeco|Company rule in Rhodesia}} Matabeleland Protectorate (1891–1923) *{{flagdeco|British Nigeria}} Nigeria Protectorate* (1914–1960) *{{flagicon image|Flag of the Niger Coast Protectorate (1893–1899).svg}} Niger Coast Protectorate (1884–1900) *{{flagicon image|Flag of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate (1900–1914).svg}} Northern Nigeria Protectorate (1900–1914) *{{flag|Northern Rhodesia}} (1924–1964) *{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (1901–1957) *{{flagdeco|Company rule in Rhodesia}} North-Eastern Rhodesia (1900–1911) *{{flag|Nyasaland}} (1907–1964) *{{flagicon image|Flag of Sierra Leone (1916–1961).svg}} Sierra Leone Protectorate* (1896–1961) *{{flagicon image|Flag of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate (1900–1914).svg}} Southern Nigeria Protectorate (1900–1914) *{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} Swaziland (1906–1968) *{{flagdeco|Protectorate of Uganda}} Uganda Protectorate (1894–1962) *{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Walvis Bay (1878–1884) *{{flag|Sultanate of Zanzibar}} (1890–1963) <nowiki>*</nowiki>protectorates that existed alongside a colony of the same name
===Oceania===
*{{flagicon image|Flag of British New Guinea (1888–1906).svg}} British New Guinea (1884–1888) *{{flagdeco|British Solomon Islands}} British Solomon Islands (1893–1978) *{{flagicon image|Flag of the Cook Islands Federation.svg}} Cook Islands (1888–1901) *{{flag|Gilbert and Ellice Islands}} (1892–1916) *{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Niue (1900–1901) *{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Tokelau (1889–1916)
== List of former British protected states ==
As protected states, the following states were never officially part of the British Empire and retained near-total control over internal affairs; however, the British controlled their foreign policy. Their status was rarely advertised while it was in effect, but it became clear only after it was lifted.{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|pp=50–51}}
*{{flag|Emirate of Afghanistan|1906}} (1879–1919){{efn|The British held a de jure protected state over Afghanistan. Despite agreeing to the terms of the Treaty of Gandamak, Abdur Rahman Khan held Afghanistan as a de facto independent state by holding external affairs with other nations such as Persia and Russia, and often opposing the British.}}{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=50}} *{{flag|Brunei|1906}} (1888–1984) *{{flag|Bhutan|1949}} (1910–1947){{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=50}} *{{flagicon image|Flag of the Emirate of Nejd and Hasa.svg}} Emirate of Nejd and Hasa (1915–1921) *{{flag|Sultanate of Nejd}} (1921–1926) *{{flag|Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd}} (1926–1927) *{{flag|Kingdom of Egypt|1922}} (1922–1936)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://laits.utexas.edu/modern_me/egypt/3/treaty|title=Histories of the Modern Middle East|website=Laits.utexas.edu|access-date=21 April 2019}}</ref> *{{flagdeco|Malaya}} Federation of Malaya (1948–1957) **{{flag|Federated Malay States}} (1895–1946) ***{{flag|Negeri Sembilan}} (1888–1895) ***{{flag|Pahang}} (1888–1895) ***{{flag|Perak}} (1874–1895) ***{{flag|Selangor}} (1874–1895) **{{flagicon image|No flag.svg}} Unfederated Malay States (1909–1946) ***{{flag|Johor}} (1909–1946) ***{{flag|Kedah}} (1909–1946) ***{{flag|Kelantan}} (1909–1946) ***{{flag|Perlis}} (1909–1946) ***{{flag|Terengganu|1933}} (1909–1946) *{{flagdeco|Tonga}} Tonga (1900–1970) *{{flagdeco|East India Company}} British Residency of the Persian Gulf (1822–1971); headquarters based at Bushehr, Persia **{{flagdeco|Qajar Iran}} Persia (1919–1921) **{{flagdeco|Bahrain|1932}} Bahrain{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=50}} **{{flagdeco|Kuwait|1940}} Kuwait (1899–1961){{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=50}} **{{flagdeco|Qatar|1936}} Qatar (1916–1971) **{{flag|Trucial States}}; precursor state of the UAE (1820–1971){{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|p=50}} ***{{flag|Abu Dhabi}} (1820–1971) ***{{flag|Ajman}} (1820–1971) ***{{flag|Dubai}} (1835–1971) ***{{flag|Fujairah|1952}} (1952–1971) ***{{flag|Ras al-Khaimah}} (1820–1971) ***{{flag|Sharjah}} (1820–1971) ****{{flagdeco|Sharjah}} Kalba (1936–1951) ***{{flag|Umm al-Quwain}} (1820–1971) **{{flag|Muscat and Oman}} (1891–1970)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1556/1/U126805.pdf|title=Oman and the West: State Formation in Oman since 1920|author=Francis Carey Owtram |publisher=University of London |year=1999 |access-date=31 October 2020}}</ref>{{sfnp|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009|pp=50–51}} *{{flag|Raj of Sarawak}} (1888–1946) *{{flagdeco|Maldives|1953}} Sultanate of Maldives (1948–1965) *{{flagdeco|United Kingdom}} Swaziland (1967–1968)
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* {{citation |first=James |last=Onley |title=The Raj Reconsidered: British India's Informal Empire and Spheres of Influence in Asia and Africa |journal=Asian Affairs |volume=11 |number=1 |date=March 2009 |url=https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/downloads/Onley_Raj_Reconsidered.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/downloads/Onley_Raj_Reconsidered.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Onley, The Raj Reconsidered|2009}}}}
Protectorate Category:History of the British Empire Category:History of the Commonwealth of Nations