Revenue is derived mostly from customs, and is much below the cost of administration. In 1910-11 revenue was £30,000 and expenditure 49,000. In 1926-27 the figures were : revenue £90, 000 (customs £67,000), expenditure £149,000. Normal deficits are made good from the British Treasury, which also met the cost of military operations. Since 1921-23 part of the deficit had been met not by free grant but by loan, and hopes of balancing the budget were entertained. Both executive and legislative power is in the hands of the governor. District commissioners supervise local affairs.
An Arab sultanate, with its capital at Zaila (Zeyla), was founded by Koreishite immigrants from the Yemen in, it is said, the 7th century A.D. In the 13th century it had become a comparatively powerful state, known as the empire of Adel. In the 16th century the capital of the state (in which Arab influence was a decreasing factor) was transferred to Harran (q.v.). The state was harassed by Galla invaders in the i7th century, and broke up into petty independent emirates and sultanates under Somali chiefs. Zaila became a dependency of Yemen and thus nominally part of the Turkish empire. The British connection with the Somali coast dates from the early years of the i9th century and arose from the desire of the East India Company to obtain a suitable place "for the harbour of their ships without any prohibition whatever." Treaties with that object in view were concluded with the Sultan of Tajura and the governor of Zaila in 1840 and from that time the Indian Government exercised considerable influence on the Somali coast, though British authority was not definitely estab lished. In 1874-75 the ambition of Ismail Pasha, khedive of Egypt, led him to occupy the ports of Tajura, Berbera and Bulhar as well as Harrar in the hinterland. In 1884, in consequence of the revolt of the mandi in the Egyptian Sudan, the khedival garrisons were withdrawn. Thereupon Great Britain, partly be cause they were on the route to the East via the Suez canal, occupied Zaila, Berbera and Bulhar. During 1884, 1885, 1886 treaties guaranteeing British protection were concluded with vari ous Somali tribes and in 1888 the limits of the British and French spheres were defined, all claims to British jurisdiction under the 1840 treaties in the Gulf of Tajura and the islands of Musha and Bab being abandoned. The other inland boundaries of the pro tectorate were defined by agreements with Italy (1894) and Abyssinia (1897). At first regarded as a dependency of Aden the protectorate was transferred to the Foreign Office in 1898. In 1905 it passed under the control of the Colonial Office.
aid and operations were undertaken by Col. (Sir) E. J. E. Swayne. After severe fighting in 190o–or the enemy was driven to take refuge into the Mudug territory (Italian Somaliland). On Oct. 6 of that year the British forces—Somali levies and Yaos from Nyasaland—were ambushed in dense bush at Erigo and lost r o killed and 85 wounded. While the mullah was repulsed, and re treated to Galadi, Col. Swayne was unable to continue the pursuit. In 1903 another campaign was undertaken with the co-operation of the Abyssinians and the Italians, the base chosen being the roadstead of Obbia in Italian territory. Brigadier-General W. H. Manning was in command and besides Indian and African troops a small number of British and Boer mounted infantry were em ployed. Again there was desperate fighting and though Galadi was occupied the mullah broke away and crossing the British lines of communication established himself in the Nogal district. During the operations 200 Yaos and Sikhs under Lieut.-Col. Plunket were attacked (April 17) and overwhelmed. All ten British officers were slain; of the whole force only 4o Yaos, of whom 36 were wounded, escaped. Reinforcements bringing the fighting force up to 7,00o men were sent, and Major-General Sir C. C. Egerton assumed supreme command. In a pitched battle fought on Jan. 1o, 1904 at Jidballi in the Nogal country the enemy were routed, losing over i,000 men in killed alone, while the British loss in killed and wounded was 58. By May the mullah had been driven out of the British protectorate and became a refugee among the Mijertin. It was decided therefore to abandon offensive opera tions. In 1905 the Italians effected an arrangement apparently satisfactory to all parties.
This policy of "strict coast concentration" before long broke down. Efforts to restore order were inevitable ; they began in auspiciously. In Aug. 1913 a camel constabulary party under R. C. Corfield was cut up, Corfield being killed. In May Mr. (later Sir) Geoffrey Archer became commissioner (a title changed in 1919 to that of governor), and further operations were authorised. Major T. A. Cubitt inflicted severe punishment on the dervishes in Nov. 1914–Feb. 1915, but the mullah subse quently again overran a large part of the protectorate. An end was, however, put to his activities in 192o, when by operations planned by Archer and carried out by Lt.-Col. (later Sir) Gerald Summers almost the whole dervish force was destroyed. The success of these operations was primarily and mainly due to the Royal Air Force. The mullah himself escaped, fleeing into Abys sinian Somaliland, where, at the town of Imi, he died in Jan. 1921.
The overthrow of the mullah marked the deliverance of the country from 21 years of dervish oppression. The succeeding period was chiefly notable for the efforts made, with satisfactory results by the British authorities to improve the moral and mate rial conditions of the Somalis. (F. R. C.)