British Somaliland

British protectorate from 1888 to 1960

Not to be confused with Italian Somaliland or the de facto state of Somaliland.

Somaliland Protectorate

Maxmiyadda Dhulka Soomaalida (Somali)

* Protectorate 1888–1920, Colony 1920–1960

Flag
Top: 1903–1950
Bottom: 1952–1960

Badge
(1903–1950)

Badge
(1952–1960)

Anthem:

* God Save the Queen
(1862–1901 & 1952–1960)
* God Save the King
(1901–1940 & 1941–1952)

British Somaliland in 1922

Status| Self-ruling sultanates under British Protection
(administered by the Government of India 1884–1898) and then British colonial government (from 1 October 1920 onwards, a colony of Britain after the Dervish war)
Capital|

* Berbera (until 1941)
* Hargeisa (from 1941)

Common languages|

* Somali
* Arabic
* English

Religion

| Islam
Governor|

• 1884–1888 (first)

| Frederick Mercer Hunter

• 1959–1960 (last)

| Douglas Hall
Area
1904[1]| 137,270 km2 (53,000 sq mi)
Population

• 1904[1]

| 153,018
Currency|

* Rupee
(1884–1941)
* East African shilling
(1941–1962)

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Isaaq Sultanate

|

| Habr Yunis Sultanate
| 1941:
Italian East Africa
| Warsangali Sultanate
| Dervish movement (Somali)
| 1940:
Italian East Africa |

|

1960:
State of Somaliland |
Today part of|

* Somalia (de jure)
* Somaliland (de facto)

Part of a series on the

History of Somaliland

Prehistory

* Caves in Somaliland
* Laas Gaal (10,000 BC)
* Dhambalin (5,000 BC)
* Dhaymoole (5,000~3,500 BC)

Ancient

* Land of Punt (2500~2000 BC)
* Macrobians (525 BC)
* Land of the Berbers
* Malao  • Mosylon

Middle Ages

* Kingdom of Adal (9th-12th c.)
* Ifat Sultanate (12th-15th c.)
* Isaaq migrations (12th-20th c.)
* Adal Sultanate (15th-16th c.)
* Ethiopian–Adal war

Early modern

* Isaaq Sultanate (17th-19th c.)
* Habr Yunis Sultanate (18th-19th c.)
* Zeila • Berbera • Bulhar

Colonial period
(1884–1960)

* British Somaliland (1884-1960)
* Dervish movement (1884-1920)
* Somaliland campaign (1901-1910)
* Somaliland campaign (1920)
* Burao Tax Revolt (1922)
* Italian invasion (1941)
* Sheikh Bashir Rebellion (1945)

Modern Somaliland
(since 1960)

* State of Somaliland (1960)
* Somali Republic (1960-1969)
* 1961 revolt in Somalia
* Somali Democratic Republic (1969-1991)
* Somaliland War of Independence (1981-1991)
* Isaaq genocide (1982-1990)
* Peace process (1991)
* Declaration of Independence (1991)
* Somaliland (1991)
* Peace treaties of the Somaliland War of Independence (1991-1997)
* Constitutional referendum (2001)

Somaliland portal

* v
* t
* e

British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (Somali: Maxmiyadda Dhulka Soomaalida), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland.[2] It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Abyssinia (Italian Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941). From 1940 to 1941, it was part of Italian East Africa.

On 26 June 1960, British Somaliland was formally granted independence by the United Kingdom as the State of Somaliland. Five days later, on 1 July 1960, the State of Somaliland voluntarily united with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somalia) to form the Somali Republic.[3][4] The government of Somaliland, an unrecognised independent state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia,[5][6] regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland.[7][8]

## History

[edit]

See also: Anglo-Isaaq conflicts and Khedivate's Somali Coast

### Treaties and establishment

[edit]

Map of British Somaliland Map of the British Somaliland Protectorate. Sultans of the Isaaq clan in Hargeisa, Somaliland Mohamoud Ali Shire Sultan of the Warsangali clan Somali warriors board British naval batilla

In the late 19th century, the United Kingdom signed agreements with the Gadabuursi, Issa, Habr Awal, Garhajis, Arap, Habr Je'lo and Warsangeli clans establishing a protectorate.[4][9][10]

The British, the Isaaq Sultanate and the Isaaq clan in Somaliland had come into contact in 1825, when a British ship named the Mary Anne was attacked, sacked, and plundered by Isaaq forces in the port city of Berbera.[11][12][13]

The attack led to a British attack of the city and subsequent negotiations with the Sultanate. Further incidents occurred in the 1850s, notably with the Attack on British exploring expeditions and the Blockade of Berbera (1855), which were key points of friction between the British and the Isaaq.[14]

Not until 1888 could the British establish the British Somaliland Protectorate, after signing treaties, but tensions continued between the Isaaq and British authorities.[15][16][17]

Not until the late 19th century did the United Kingdom sign agreements with the Isaaq Sultanate establishing a protectorate.[4][18][10] Many of these clans had signed the protection treaties with the British in response to Ethiopian Emperor Menelik's Invasions. The agreements dictated the protection of Somali rights and the maintenance of independence.[19] The British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it from their British India colony until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905 and afterwards by the Colonial Office.

Generally, the British did not have much interest in the resource-barren region.[20] The stated purposes of the establishment of the protectorate were to "secure a supply market, check the traffic in slaves, and to exclude the interference of foreign powers."[21] The British principally viewed the protectorate as a source for supplies of meat for their British Indian outpost in Aden through the maintenance of order in the coastal areas and protection of the caravan routes from the interior.[22] Hence, the region's nickname of "Aden's butcher's shop".[23] Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast,[24] and contrasted with the more interventionist colonial experience of Italian Somalia.[25]

## Dervish war

[edit]

Main articles: Dervish movement (Somali) and Somaliland campaign

Aerial view of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's main fort in Taleh, the capital of his Dervish movement

Beginning in 1899, the British were forced to expend considerable human and military capital to contain a decades-long resistance mounted by the Dervish movement.[26] The movement was led by Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a Somali religious leader referred to colloquially by the British as the "Mad Mullah".[27] Repeated military expeditions were unsuccessfully launched against Hassan and his Dervishes before the First World War.

1915 map of the situation in the Dervish war

On 9 August 1913, the Somaliland Camel Constabulary suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Dul Madoba at the hands of the Dervishes. Hassan had already evaded several attempts to capture him. At Dul Madoba, his forces killed or wounded 57 members of the 110-man Constabulary unit, including the British commander, Colonel Richard Corfield.

In 1914, the British created the Somaliland Camel Corps to assist in maintaining order in British Somaliland.

In 1920, the British launched their fifth and final expedition against Hassan and his followers. Employing the then-new technology of military aircraft, the British finally managed to quell Hassan's twenty-year-long struggle. The British tricked Hassan into preparing for an official visit, then launched bombing raids in the city of Taleh where most of his troops were stationed, causing the mullah to retreat into the desert.[28] Hassan and his Dervish supporters fled to the Ogaden, where Hassan died in 1921.[29]

## British Somaliland 1920–1930

[edit]

Market in Hargeisa

Following the defeat of the Dervish resistance, the two fundamental goals of British policy in British Somaliland were the preservation of stability and the economic self-sufficiency of the protectorate.[30] The second goal remained particularly elusive because of local resistance to taxation that might have been used to support the protectorate's administration.[31] By the 1930s, the British presence had extended to other parts of British Somaliland. Growth in commercial trade motivated some livestock herders to subsequently leave the pastoral economy and settle in urban areas.[32] Customs taxes also helped pay for British India's patrol of Somalia's Red Sea coast.[33]

Among military units in British Somaliland during the interwar period was a battalion of the Indian Army 4th Bombay Grenadiers.[34]

### Italian invasion

[edit]

Further information: East African campaign (World War II) and Italian invasion of British Somaliland

In August 1940, during the East African campaign in World War II, British Somaliland was invaded by Italy. The few British forces that were present attempted to defend the main road to Berbera, but were dislodged from their positions and retreated after losing the Battle of Tug Argan. During this period, the British rounded up soldiers and governmental officials to evacuate them from the territory through Berbera. In total, 7,000 people, including civilians, were evacuated.[35] The Somalis serving in the Somaliland Camel Corps were given the choice of evacuation or disbandment; the majority chose to remain and were allowed to retain their arms.[36]

In March 1941, after a six-month Italian occupation, British forces recaptured the protectorate during Operation Appearance. The final remnants of the Italian guerrilla movement discontinued all resistance in British Somaliland by the autumn of 1943.

### 1945 Sheikh Bashir rebellion

[edit]

Main article: 1945 Sheikh Bashir rebellion

Sheikh Bashir praying Sunnah prayer, 1920

The 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion was an uprising by tribesmen of the Habr Je'lo clan in the cities of Burao and Erigavo in the former British Somaliland protectorate against British authorities in July 1945 led by Sheikh Bashir, a Somali religious leader belonging to the Yeesif sub-division.[37]

On 2 July, Sheikh Hamza collected 25 of his followers in the town of Wadamago and transported them on a lorry to the vicinity of Burao, where he distributed arms to half of his followers. On the evening of 3 July, the group entered Burao and opened fire on the police guard of the central prison in the city, which was filled with prisoners arrested for previous demonstrations. The group also attacked the house of the district commissioner of Burao District, Major Chambers, resulting in the death of Major Chamber's police guard. Hamza's group escaped to Bur Dhab, a strategic mountain south-east of Burao, where Sheikh Bashir's small unit occupied a fort and took up a defensive position in anticipation of a British counterattack.[38]

The British campaign against Sheikh Hamza's troops proved abortive after several defeats as his forces kept on the move. No sooner had the expedition left the area, than the news travelled fast among the Somali nomads across the plain. The war had exposed the British administration to humiliation. The government came to a conclusion that another expedition against Hamza would be useless; that they must build a railway, make roads and effectively occupy the whole of the protectorate, or else abandon the interior. The latter course was decided upon and during the first months of 1945, the advance posts were withdrawn and the British administration confined to the coast town of Berbera.[39]

Sheikh Bashir settled many disputes among the tribes in the vicinity, which kept them from raiding each other. He was generally thought to settle disputes through the use of Islamic Sharia and gathered around him a strong following.[40]

Sheikh Bashir sent a message to the religious figures in the town of Erigavo, calling upon them to join the rebellion he led. The religious leaders, as well as the people of Erigavo, heeded his call. A substantial number of people armed themselves with rifles and spears to stage the revolt. The British authorities responded rapidly and severely, sending reinforcements to the town. In two "local actions", the British reinforcements fired openly against the armed mobs and arrested some minor religious leaders. [41]

The British administration recruited Indian and South African troops to fight against Sheikh Bashir. Led by Police General James David, the British police force mobilized with intelligence plans to capture Bashir alive.

Eventually, on 7 July, they found Sheikh Bashir with his unit in defensive positions behind their fortifications in the mountains of Bur Dhab. After the clashes, Sheikh Bashir was killed, along with his second-in-command, Alin Yusuf Ali, nicknamed Qaybdiid. A third rebel was wounded and captured along with two other rebels. The rest of Bashir's people fled the fortifications and dispersed. On the British side, Police General James David perished. A number of Indian and South African troops also lost their lives, and a policeman was injured.

Despite the death of Sheikh Bashir and many of his followers, the resistance against British authorities continued in Somaliland, especially in Erigavo, where his death occurred. Further resistance arose in the town of Badhan leading to attacks on British colonial troops throughout the district and the seizing of arms from the rural constabulary.[42]

Although most of the rebels had died, the British authorities were not finished with their counter-insurgency campaign. They quickly learned the identities of all the followers of Sheikh Bashir and tried to convince the locals to turn them in. When the locals refused, the authorities invoked the Collective Punishment Ordinance, under which the authorities seized and impounded a total of 6,000 camels owned by the Habr Je'lo, the clan that Sheikh Bashir belonged to. The British authorities made the return of the livestock dependent on the turning over and arrest of the escaped rebels.[43] The remaining rebels were subsequently found and arrested, and transported to the Saad-ud-Din archipelago, off the coast of Zeila in northwestern Somaliland.

### Independence and union with the Trust Territory of Somaliland

[edit]

Main articles: State of Somaliland, Independence Day (State of Somaliland), Somali Republic, and Independence Day (Somalia)

Agreements and Exchanges of Letters between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Somaliland in connexion with the Attainment of Independence by Somaliland[44] The Somaliland Protectorate Constitutional Conference, London, May 1960 in which it was decided that 26 June would be the day of Independence, and so signed on 12 May 1960. Somaliland Delegation: Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal, Ahmed Haji Dualeh, Ali Garad Jama and Haji Ibrahim Nur. From the Colonial Office: Ian Macleod, D. B. Hall, H. C. F. Wilks (Secretary)

In 1947, the entire budget for the administration of the British Somaliland protectorate was only £213,139.[33]

In May 1960, the British Government stated that it would be prepared to grant independence to the then Somaliland protectorate. The Legislative Council of British Somaliland passed a resolution in April 1960 requesting independence. The legislative councils of the territory agreed to this proposal.[45]

In April 1960, leaders of the two territories met in Mogadishu and agreed to form a unitary state. An elected president was to be head of state. Full executive powers would be held by a prime minister answerable to an elected National Assembly of 123 members representing the two territories.

On 26 June 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate gained independence as the State of Somaliland. Five days later, on 1 July 1960, Somaliland officially merged with the Trust Territory of Somaliland to create the Somali Republic.[3][4]

On 1 July 1960 the legislature elected Haji Bashir, the old speaker of the Somaliland Assembly, as the first President of the new Republic of Somalia National Assembly, and also on that same day Aden Adde was elected as the President of the newly formed Somali Republic.

## Politics

[edit]

Further information: List of colonial governors of British Somaliland

Until 1898, Somaliland was administered by the British resident at Aden as a dependency of the Government of India. From 1898 it was under the purview of the Foreign Office, and from 1905 onward (with the exception of a period of military administration until 1948 following the Italian invasion) it was administered by the Colonial Office.

Until 1957, executive and legislative power were solely vested in the Governor, although he had a non-statutory council to advise him. In 1947, a Protectorate Advisory Council was established on a tribal basis, with representatives of other communities and official members as well. In 1957, a Legislative Council and an Executive Council were created. From 1959, there were elections to the Legislative Council. A new constitution was introduced in 1960, shortly before independence.

## Republic of Somaliland

[edit]

In 1991, after a bloody civil war for independence in the northern part of the Somali Democratic Republic, the area which formerly encompassed British Somaliland declared independence. In May 1991, the formation of the "Republic of Somaliland" was proclaimed, with the local government regarding it as the successor to the former British Somaliland as well as to the State of Somaliland. However, Somaliland’s independence remains unrecognised by any United Nations member state.[46]

## Postage stamps

[edit]

Main article: Postage stamps of British Somaliland

Stamps of the Somaliland Protectorate, 1953 issue. Overprinted in 1957 and 1960 to mark events relating to the Legislative Council

## References

[edit]

* Somaliland portal

1. ^ "Census of the British empire. 1901". Openlibrary.org. 1906. p. 178. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
2. ^ United Kingdom. "Somaliland Protectorate, communicated by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
3. ^ a b "Somalia". Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
4. ^ a b c d Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). "Somaliland" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 378–384.
5. ^ Lacey, Marc (5 June 2006). "The Signs Say Somaliland, but the World Says Somalia". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
6. ^ "The Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic" (PDF). University of Pretoria. 1 February 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2010. "The Somali Republic shall have the following boundaries. (a) North; Gulf of Aden. (b) North West; Djibouti. (c) West; Ethiopia. (d) South south-west; Kenya. (e) East; Indian Ocean."
7. ^ "Somaliland Marks Independence After 73 Years of British Rule" (fee required). The New York Times. 26 June 1960. p. 6\. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
8. ^ "How Britain said farewell to its Empire". BBC News. 23 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
9. ^ Laitin, David D. (1977). Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 8\. ISBN 978-0-226-46791-7.
10. ^ a b Issa-Salwe, Abdisalam M. (1996). The Collapse of the Somali State: The Impact of the Colonial Legacy. London: Haan Associates. pp. 34–35\. ISBN 1-874209-91-X.
11. ^ Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1999). The Search for the Source of the Nile: Correspondence Between Captain Richard Burton, Captain John Speke and Others, from Burton's Unpublished East African Letter Book. Roxburghe Club. pp. 29–37.
12. ^ "Plate section". What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. 19 May 2011. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139034456.012. ISBN 9781139034456.
13. ^ Walsh, Langton Prendergast (10 November 2018). Under the Flag: And Somali Coast Stories. FRANKLIN CLASSICS TRADE Press. ISBN 978-0-353-06687-8.
14. ^ Speke, John Hanning (1860). Captain J.H. Speke's Adventures in Somali Land: Experientia Docet. Parts 1, 2, 3. p. 34.
15. ^ Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1999). The Search for the Source of the Nile: Correspondence Between Captain Richard Burton, Captain John Speke and Others, from Burton's Unpublished East African Letter Book. Roxburghe Club. pp. 29–37.
16. ^ "Plate section". What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. 19 May 2011. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139034456.012. ISBN 9781139034456.
17. ^ Walsh, Langton Prendergast (10 November 2018). Under the Flag: And Somali Coast Stories. FRANKLIN CLASSICS TRADE Press. ISBN 978-0-353-06687-8.
18. ^ Laitin, David D. (1977). Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 8\. ISBN 978-0-226-46791-7.
19. ^ Gorman, Robert F. (1981). Political Conflict on the Horn of Africa. Praeger. p. 29\. ISBN 978-0-03-059471-7. "Facing the Ethiopian threat, many Somali clans accepted British protection."
20. ^ Samatar, Abdi Ismail. The State and Rural Transformation in Northern Somalia, 1884–1986, Madison: 1989, University of Wisconsin Press, p. 31
21. ^ Samatar p. 31
22. ^ Samatar, p. 32
23. ^ Samatar, Unhappy Masses and the Challenge of Political Islam in the Horn of Africa, Somalia Online [1] Archived 3 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 10-03-27
24. ^ Samatar, The state and rural transformation in Northern Somaliap. 42
25. ^ McConnell, Tristan (15 January 2009). "The Invisible Country". Virginia Quarterly Review. Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
26. ^ Mohamoud, Abdullah A. (2006). State Collapse and Post-conflict Development in Africa: The Case of Somalia (1960-2001). Purdue University Press. ISBN 9781557534132. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
27. ^ Jardine, Douglas James (15 October 2015). Mad Mullah of Somaliland. Naval & Military Press. ISBN 9781781519820.
28. ^ Ross, Sherwood. "How the United States Reversed Its Policy on Bombing Civilians". The Humanist. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
29. ^ Samatar, The state and rural transformation in Northern Somalia, p. 39
30. ^ Samatar, p. 45
31. ^ Samatar, p. 46
32. ^ Samatar, pp. 52–53
33. ^ a b Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, Thomas P. "Ethiopia in World War II". A Country Study: Ethiopia. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 29 October 2004. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
34. ^ Sharma, Gautam (1990). Valour and sacrifice: famous regiments of the Indian Army. Allied Publishers. ISBN 81-7023-140-X, 75.
35. ^ Playfair (1954), p. 178
36. ^ Wavell, p. 2724 Archived 9 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
37. ^ Mohamed, Jama (1996). Constructing colonial hegemony in the Somaliland protectorate, 1941-1960 (Thesis thesis). Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
38. ^ of Rodd, Lord Rennell (1948). British Military Administration in Africa 1941–1947. HMSO. p. 481.
39. ^ "Taariikhdii Halgamaa: Sheekh Bashiir Sh. Yuusuf. W/Q: Prof Yaxye Sheekh Caamir | Laashin iyo Hal-abuur". 11 January 2018. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
40. ^ Sheekh Caamir, Prof. Yaxye (11 January 2018). "Taariikhdii Halgamaa: Sheekh Bashiir Sh. Yuusuf". Laashin.
41. ^ of Rodd, Lord Rennell (1948). British Military Administration in Africa 1941–1947. HMSO. p. 482.
42. ^ Mohamed, Jama (2002). "'The Evils of Locust Bait': Popular Nationalism during the 1945 Anti-Locust Control Rebellion in Colonial Somaliland". Past & Present (174): 184–216\. doi:10.1093/past/174.1.184. ISSN 0031-2746. JSTOR 3600720. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
43. ^ Annual Colonial Office Report on the Somaliland Protectorate, 1948. p. 31.
44. ^ "Agreements and Exchanges of Letters between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Somaliland in connexion with the Attainment of Independence by Somaliland" (PDF). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 26 June 1960. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2020.
45. ^ Somali Independence Week Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
46. ^ "Somali State Conflict: Revisiting the Political Economy of the Somali Security State (1969-1991)" (PDF). 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Former British Empire and Current British Overseas Territories

Legend
Former territory
Current territory
*Current Commonwealth realm
†Current member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe

* Akrotiri and Dhekelia since 1960 (before as part of Cyprus)
* Corsica 1794–1796
* †Cyprus 1878–1960
* Gibraltar since 1713
* Heligoland 1807–1890
* Ionian Islands 1809–1864
* Lordship of Ireland 1177–1542
* Kingdom of Ireland 1542–1800 (integrated into the UK)
* Free State 1921–1931
* †Malta
* Protectorate 1800–1813
* Colony 1813–1964
* Minorca 1708–1757, 1763–1782 and 1798–1802

Africa

* Basutoland (†Lesotho) 1868–1966
* Bechuanaland (†Botswana) 1884–1966
* Cameroons13 1919–1961
* Cape Colony 1795–1803
* Cape of Good Hope 1806–1910
* Central Africa 1891–1907
* East Africa 1895–1920
* Egypt 1882–1922
* †The Gambia 1816–1965
* Gold Coast (†Ghana) 1874–1957
* †Kenya 1920–1963
* Lagos 1862–1906
* Madeira 1807–1808
* †Mauritius 1810–1968
* Natal 1856–1910
* Niger Coast 1884–1900
* †Nigeria 1914–1960
* Northern Nigeria 1900–1914
* Northern Rhodesia15 1924–1964
* Nyasaland 1891–1964
* Orange River 1900–1910
* †Seychelles 1903–1976
* †Sierra Leone 1792–1961
* Somaliland 1884–1960
* †South Africa 1910–1931
* South-West Africa12 1915–1931
* Southern Rhodesia14 1923–1965 and 1979–1980
* Southern Nigeria 1900–1914
* †Swaziland 1893–1968
* Sudan 1899–1956
* Tanganyika13 1922–1961
* Transvaal 1900–1910
* †Uganda 1890–1962
* Zanzibar 1890–1963
* Zululand 1887–1897

* 12Now †Namibia
* 13League of Nations mandate. British Cameroons is now part of †Cameroon and Nigeria, while Tanganyika is part of †Tanzania.
* 14Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.
* 15Now †Zambia

Asia

* Aden Colony 1839–1967
* Afghanistan 1839–1842
* Protectorate 1879–1919
* Bencoolen 1685–1824
* Banka and Billiton 1812–1824
* Bengal 1757–1947
* Bhutan (protectorate) 1907–1949
* Borneo 1874–1963
* British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965 (before as part of Mauritius and Seychelles)26
* Burma 1824–1948
* †Brunei 1888–1984
* †Ceylon 1795–1948
* †Cyprus 1878–1960
* Hong Kong 1841–1997
* †India18 1858–1947
* Java 1811–1816
* Kuwait 1918–1961
* Labuan 1848–1946
* Malaya 1819–1826
* Federated States 1895–1946
* Unfederated States 1885–1946
* Union 1946–1948
* Federation 1948–1957
* Malacca 1824–1946
* Crown Colony 1946–1957
* †Maldives 1796–1965
* Manila and Cavite 1762–1764
* Mesopotamia19 1920–1932
* Muscat and Oman 1891–1971
* North Borneo 1882–1963
* Crown Colony 1946–1963
* Padang 1781–1784 and 1795–1819
* Palestine19 1923–1948
* Penang 1786–1946
* Crown Colony 1946–1957
* Pulo Condore 1702–1705
* Sarawak 1841–1946
* Crown Colony 1946–1963
* †Singapore 1946–1963
* South Vietnam 1945–1946
* Straits Settlements 1826–1946
* Transjordan 1921–1946
* Trucial States 1892–1971
* Weihai 1898–1930

* 18Now †India, †Pakistan and †Bangladesh
* 19League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
* 26Legitimacy of territorial establishment disputed

North America

* Anguilla since 1650
* *Antigua 1632–1860
* *Antigua and Barbuda 1860–1981
* †*Bahamas 1670–1973
* †Barbados 1624–1966
* Bay Islands 1643–1860
* †*Belize 1871–1981
* Bermuda since 1619
* British Arctic Territories 16th c.–1880
* British Columbia 1858–1866
* 1866–1871
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* †Dominica 1763–1978
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* †*Canada
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* 4Now a department of Colombia

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* 20Now part of the †Realm of New Zealand
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* 5Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.
* 23Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena.
* 24Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the Antarctic Treaty.
* 25Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985

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Somaliland articles

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Somalia articles

History|

| Chronology|

* Laas Geel
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* (2009–present)

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