British Somaliland

American  

noun

1. a former British protectorate in eastern Africa, on the Gulf of Aden: now the northern part of Somalia.

---

British Somaliland British  

noun

1. a former British protectorate (1884–1960) in E Africa, on the Gulf of Aden: united with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form Somalia (or the Somali Republic); in 1991 the self-styled republic of Somaliland, covering the same area as the former British Somaliland, declared itself independent and continues to function largely as a separate entity, though without international recognition

---

Example Sentences

It was a British protectorate - known as British Somaliland - until it merged with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the Somali Republic.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2025

Ismail was born in 1937 in Hargeisa, the capital of what was then British Somaliland.

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2023

Mussolini decided to expand his African holdings and in August 1940 occupied British Somaliland, threatening the British in Egypt.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

A seaman from British Somaliland residing in Cardiff, Mattan was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert, a Jewish shopkeeper and moneylender, in the predominantly immigrant community of Tiger Bay.

From New York Times • Dec. 13, 2021

The Jig-Jigga country, a province of Abyssinia lying near the border of British Somaliland and governed by Abdullah Dowa, an Arab sheik owing allegiance to King Menelek, is the best lion country in all Africa.

From The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier by Bronson, Edgar Beecher