British Somaliland

British Somaliland Protectorate
Dhulka Soomaalida ee Biritishka الصومال arda البريطاني
Protectorate of the United Kingdom
1884–1940 1941–1960
Flag Coat of arms
British Somaliland
Capital		Berbera
Languages		English Somali
Religion		Islam
Political structure		Protectorate
History
•	Established	1884
•	Italian occupation	1940–1941
•	Somali unification	1 July 1960
Area
•	1904	155,399 km² (60,000 sq mi)
Population
•	1904 est.	153,018
Density		1 /km²  (2.6 /sq mi)
Currency		Rupee (1884–1941) East African shilling (1941–62)
Preceded by Succeeded by Warsangali Sultanate Dervish State Italian East Africa Italian East Africa State of Somaliland
Today part of		Somalia

British Somaliland (or more fully, British Somaliland Protectorate) (Somali: Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka, Arabic: الصومال البريطاني Al-Sumal Al-Britaniy‎‎) was a British protectorate in present-day northwestern Somalia. For much of its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland and Ethiopia. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa. On 1 July 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate united as scheduled with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic (Somalia). The government of Somaliland, a self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia, regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland.

In 1888, after signing successive treaties with the then ruling Somali Sultans such as Mohamoud Ali Shire of the Warsangali Sultanate, the British established a protectorate in the region referred to as British Somaliland. 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.