Protectorate

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This article is about states protected and/or dominated by a foreign power. For the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard in the British Isles as Lord Protector, see The Protectorate.

A protectorate is, in international law, a political entity (a sovereign state or a less developed native polity, such as a tribal chiefstainship or feudal princely state) that formally agrees (voluntarily or under pressure) by treaty to enter into an unequal relationship with another, stronger state, called the protector, which engages to protect it (diplomatically or, if needed, militarily) against third parties, in exchange for which the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship.

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Rationale

In the case of so-called amical protection, mainly extended by the great powers to fellow Christian (generally European) states and tiny ones without significant intrinsic importance, the terms may often be very favorable for the protectorate. The political interest of the protector there is often moral (a matter of image, prestige, ideology, internal popularity, dynastic, historical or ethno-cultural ties...), and/or countering a rival or enemy power, e.g. preventing the Ottoman empire from keeping or getting control of a strategical place. Even if this involves the very weak protectorate surrendering its external relations, this may constitute no real sacrifice, since they would not have been able to get similar use out of them without the muscle which only the protector can field for its intererst.

Often the conditions are far less generous in areas of colonial 'protection'. Here the western powers were generally after real control, so eager to obtain terms that reduced the protectorate to a de facto condition rather similar to a colony, but using the pre-existing native state as an ideal agent of indirect rule; sometimes a protectorate was even establshed by and/or exerced by the other mean form of indirect rule: a chartered company, which does truly becomes a de facto state 'in' (but geographically overseas) its European home state, allowed to conduct its own foreign policy and generally disposing of its own armed forces.

In fact, 'protectorates' were even declared which were not even duly entered into by pre-existent traditional states, or only by a party in its internal politics of dubious authority, while colonial 'protectors' frequently decided on their own to 'reshuffle' several protectorates into a new, artificial unit, a logic not quite respectful of the theoretical duty of a protector to help maintain the protectorate's status and integrity. A similar indication is the formal use of such phrasings as 'colony and protectorate' for an amalgamaton, convenient only for the coloniser/protector, of geographically proximous terrotories over which it held (de facto) sway by protective or 'raw' colonial logic.

In practice, a protectorate often has direct foreign relations only with the protecting power, so other states must deal with it by approaching the protector. Similarly, the protectorate rarely takes military action on its own, but relies on the protector for its defence. This is distinct from annexation, in that the protector has no formal power to control the internal affairs of the protectorate.

Protectorates differ from League of Nations Mandates, and similar United Nations Trust Territories, which gave in practice similar authority to "responsible" Western powers or Japan in various areas of the non-European world over former colonial possessions (including protectorates) of the losers in World Wars I viz. II, since a protectorate formally enters into the protection itself, while the international mandates are imposed upon them by the 'world community-representing body'.

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British & Commonwealth protectorates

Protection is a long-established term in English law for the duty of a sovereign to keep the subject safe from harm, including harm done by the sovereign; the subject has a corresponding duty of allegiance and obedience. Thus, in 1775, George III declared the thirteen colonies "out of his protection" for their disobedience — almost equivalent to a declaration of war.

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.

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.

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

  • 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.

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

Other cases include (list incomplete):

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Middle East

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In the Americas

  • Miskito nation (amical, over Central America's Mosquito Indian nation)
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Further Asia

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

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Oceania

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Other European 'protectors'

(These lists may be incomplete)

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German

  • the German Empire (Second Reich) used the word Schutzgebiet, literally 'protectorate', for its true colonies as well.

Cases involving indirect rule include: In the Pacific:

In Africa:

  • sultanate of Witu, in Kenya
  • Namibia *
  • Rwanda, a Resident with the native Mwami (king)
  • Urundi, a Resident with the native Mwami (king; 1908 Sultan)

Besides these colonial uses, within Europe the Nazi Third Reich established:

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French

  • Saar, not colonial or amical, but a former part of Germany that would by referendum return to it, in fact a re-edition of a former League of Nations mandate

Most French protectorates were of course rather colonial: In Asia:

  • In present India: Arkat (Arcot/Carnatic) was 1692 - 1750 a French protectorate until 1763 independence recognized under British protectorate
  • In Indochina:
    • Cambodia 11 August 1863 French protectorate
    • Annam and Tonkin 6 June 1884
    • Laos 3 October 1893 French protectorate

In North African and Indian Ocean Muslim cultures:

  • Comoros 21 April 1886 French protectorate (Anjouan *) till 25 Jul 1912 annexed
  • Mauritania on 12 May 1903 French protectorate
    • in Mauritanian traditional states ...
  • Morocco - most of the sultanate was 30 March 1912 - 2 March 1956 French protectorate *
  • over Madagascar Traditional States
    • 6 August 1896 Kingdom of Imerina under French protectorate. 28 February 1897 French Madagascar colony.
  • Tunisia 12 May 1881 becomes a French protectorate by treaty. ... 20 March 1956

French protectorate terminated.

In Sub-saharan Africa:

  • in Benin traditional states
    • ... 1889 Independent of Danhome, under French protectorate
    • 23 February 1863 - 2 January 1865 Porto-Novo a French protectorate. 19 May 1868 Cotonou a French Protectorate. 14 April 1882 Porto-Novo French protectorate. ...
  • in Central African Republic traditional states:
    • 12 December 1897 French protectorate over Dar al-Kuti (1912 Sultanate suppressed by the French)
    • 1894 French protectorate over the Sultanate of Bangassou *
  • Burkina Faso was since 20 February 1895 a French protectorate named Haute-Volta ('Upper Volta')
  • in Chad: Baghirmi state 20 September 1897 a French protectorate
  • Côte d'Ivoire: 10 January 1889 French protectorate of Ivory Coast
  • Guinea: 5 August 1849 French protectorate over coastal region; (Riviéres du Sud).
  • in Senegal: 4 February 1850 First of several French protectorate treaties with local rulers

In Oceania:

  • in French Polynesia * 1842 Otaheiti becomes a French protectorate
  • on Wallis and Futuna:
    • 4 November 1842 Wallis declared to be a French protectorate by King of Uvea and Captain Mallet of ...
    • 5 April 1887 `Uvea (Wallis) becomes a French protectorate.

Template:Former French colonies

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Italian

Twice in Europe:

  • Monaco 20 November 1815 under amical Protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia*
  • 3 June 1917 Albanian independence from the Ottoman empire under an Italian protectorate declared by Italy (this is opposed by most Albanians).

In the colonial empire:

  • Ethiopia: the orthodox empire was 2 May 1889 - 26 October 1896 by the Treaty of Uccialli declared a protectorate by Italy (Abyssinian Italian Protectorate); contested by Ethiopia
  • in Libya: on 15 October 1912 Italian protectorate declared Cirenaica (Cyrenaica).
  • in Somalia: 3 August 1889 Benadir Coast Italian Protectorate (in the north east; unoccupied until May 1893), until 16 March 1905 Italian Somalia (Italian Somaliland) colony.
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Spanish

  • in Morocco 27 November 1912 - 7 April 1956 the so-called Spanish Zone (most of the sultanate was under French protectorate) jalifado *
  • in Mauritania ?*
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Non-European protectors

  • Japan held a protectorate over the monarchy of Korea before annexing that country
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Contemporary usage by the United States

Some agencies of the United States government, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency, still use the term protectorate to refer to insular areas of the United States such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as were the Philippines at the end of Spanish colonial rule. However, the agency responsible for the administration of those areas, the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) within the United States Department of Interior exclusively uses the term insular area rather than protectorate.

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See also

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Sources and references

da:Protektorat de:Protektorat eo:Protektorato es:Protectorado fi:Protektoraatti fr:Protectorat id:Protektorat it:Protettorato ja:保護国 nl:Protectoraat no:Protektorat pl:Protektorat pt:Protectorado ru:Протекторат sq:Protektoriat sv:Protektorat

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