Implementation When the British took over
Cephalonia in 1809, they proclaimed, "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. Similarly,
Malta was a British protectorate between the capitulation of the French in 1800 and the
Treaty of Paris of 1814. The
princely states of India was another example of
indirect rule during the
time of Empire. So too were many of the West African holdings. Other British protectorates followed. In the Pacific Ocean the sixteen islands of the
Gilbert Islands (now
Kiribati) were declared a British protectorate by Captain Davis R.N., of between 27 May and 17 June 1892. The
Royalist also visited each of the Ellice Islands, and Captain Davis was requested by islanders to raise the British flag, but he did not have instructions to declare the Ellice Islands as a protectorate. The nine islands of the Ellice Group (now
Tuvalu) were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson R.N., of , between 9 and 16 October of the same year. Britain defined its area of interest in the
Solomon Islands in June 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of , declared the southern Solomon Islands as a British protectorate with the proclamation of the
British Solomon Islands Protectorate. In 1894, Prime Minister
William Ewart Gladstone's government officially announced that
Uganda, where Muslim and Christian strife had attracted international attention, was to become a British protectorate. The British administration installed carefully selected local kings under a programme 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, under the
Foreign Office, rather than a Governor under the
Colonial Office.
British law made a distinction between a protectorate and a protected state. Constitutionally the two were of similar status, in which Britain provided controlled defence and external relations. However, a protectorate had an internal government established, while a protected state established a form of local internal self-government based on the already existing one. Persons connected with a former British protectorate, protected state,
mandated territory or
trust territory may remain
British Protected Persons if they did not acquire the nationality of the country at independence. The last British protectorate proper was the
British Solomon Islands, now
Solomon Islands, which gained independence in 1978; the last British protected state was
Brunei, which gained full independence in 1984. == List of former British protectorates ==