British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate (Somali: Maxmiyadda Dhulka Soomaalida), was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in the territory of modern Somaliland. It was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast, and the Ethiopian Empire (later part of Italian East Africa from 1936 to 1941).
From 1884 to 1920, the territory was a British protectorate consisting of self-ruling sultanates. Following the defeat of the Dervish movement by British forces in 1920, the protectorate was formally established as a Crown colony.
During World War II, British Somaliland was occupied by Italy from 3 August 1940 until 8 April 1941, when British forces recaptured the territory.
On 26 June 1960, British Somaliland gained independence as the State of Somaliland. Five days later, on 1 July 1960, it voluntarily united with the Trust Territory of Somalia (former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.
The government of Somaliland, an unrecognised state recognised internationally as an autonomous region of Somalia, regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland. As of 26 December 2025, Israel is the only United Nations member state that recognises the Republic of Somaliland as an independent sovereign state.
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.
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. Not until 1888 could the British establish the British Somaliland Protectorate, after signing treaties, but tensions continued between the Isaaq and British authorities.
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.
Not until the late 19th century did the United Kingdom sign agreements with the Isaaq Sultanate establishing a protectorate. 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. 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. 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." 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. Hence, the region's nickname of "Aden's butcher's shop". Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast, and contrasted with the more interventionist colonial experience of Italian Somalia.
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. The movement was led by Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, a Somali religious leader who was pejoratively referred to by the British as the "Mad Mullah". Repeated military expeditions were unsuccessfully launched against Hassan and his Dervishes before the First World War.
Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman the 5th Sultan of the Habr Yunis Sultanate was one of the main leaders behind the Somali Dervish movement (1899–1920) along with another Isaaq leader Haji Sudi. Nur Ahmed Aman was the principal agitator rallying the followers of the Kob Fardod Tariqa behind his anti-French Roman Catholic Mission campaign that would become the cause of the Dervish uprising. He assisted in assembling men and arms and hosted the revolting tribesmen in his quarter at Burao in August 1899, declaring the Dervish rebellion. He fought and led the war throughout the early years of the conflict from 1899 to 1904. He and his brother Geleh Ahmed (Kila Ahmed) were the main signatories of the Dervish peace treaty with the British, Ethiopians and Italian colonial powers on 5 March 1905, known as the Ilig Treaty or the Pestalozza agreement.
In 1908, the Dervishes again entered British Somaliland and began inflicting major losses to the British in the interior regions of the Horn of Africa. From 1908 onwards until the end of the World War I the British retreated to the few remaining coastal regions after suffering heavy losses in the interior, where the dervish continued to operate independently and leaving the interior regions in the hands of the Dervishes.
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. Hassan and his Dervish supporters fled to the Ogaden, where Hassan died in 1921.
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. The second goal remained particularly elusive because of local resistance to taxation that might have been used to support the protectorate's administration. 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. Customs taxes also helped pay for British India's patrol of Somalia's Red Sea coast.Among military units in British Somaliland during the interwar period was a battalion of the Indian Army 4th Bombay Grenadiers.
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. 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.