Protectorate

For the rule of Oliver Cromwell, see The Protectorate.

19th Century

When the British took over Cephallenia in 1809, they proclaimed that "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." 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.

Related Topics:
Cephallenia - Ionian Islands - Napoleonic wars - Treaty of Paris

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Other British protectorates followed. In 1894 Prime Minister William Gladstone's government officially announced that Uganda was to become a British Protectorate, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention. The British administration installed carefully selected local kings under a program 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, rather than a Governor.

Related Topics:
1894 - William Gladstone - Uganda

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British law made a distinction between a protectorate and protected state. Constitutionally the two were of similar status:

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• Britain controlled defence and external relations in both cases
• however in protectorates Britain established an internal government, while in protected states a form of local internal self-government was already in existence.

The last British protectorate was Brunei (a protected state), which became independent in 1984.

Related Topics:
Brunei - 1984

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Persons connected with former British protectorates, protected states, mandated or trust territories may still be British protected persons if they did not acquire the nationality of their country at independence. See British nationality law

Related Topics:
British protected person - British nationality law

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