Southern Asia 1941: East African Campaign

Changes to the map 17 January 1941–16 March 1941

East African Campaign: In Sudan, the Italians have abandoned Gallabat and Kassala. British troops reoccupying Kassala have advanced into Eritrea, capturing Agordat and Keren. British troops reoccupying Gallabat have invaded Ethiopia and captured Metemma, while troops supporting Emperor Haile Selassie are advancing on Debra Markos. In Kenya, the British have reoccupied Moyale and attacked Mega in southern Ethiopia. Other forces from Kenya have invaded Italian Somaliland and captured Mogadishu, before pursuing the Italians across the Ogaden into Ethiopia. Additional British forces have landed in Berbera as a start to their liberation of Italian-occupied British Somaliland. In the remote west, the British have reclaimed Gambela.

French Indochina: Vichy France has signed an armistice with Thailand.

British Protectorates in the Persian Gulf

The British Residency of the Persian Gulf maintained British India's influence in a number of Gulf states from the 19th Century until 1947. These states were nominally independent - and shown as such in most atlases from the period - but all signed treaties guaranteeing British control over their foreign affairs.

The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman was the only one of these states with significant international relations, having obtained trade agreements with the US and France before it signed its treaty with Britain. Maps of the time often show Trucial Oman and even Qatar as regions of Oman.

Trucial Oman was the region to the west of Oman which collectively signed treaties with Britain. The sheikhdoms of this region were often called the Trucial States, and later became the United Arab Emirates. However at this time they had little unity, with no regional council until 1952.

Indian Empire

The British Indian Empire, also known as the British Raj, was comprised of a complex of presidencies, provinces, protectorates, and agencies. Only the top level subdivisions are shown here.

The area under direct British rule was known as British India and made up of presidencies and provinces - a presidency simply being the name for an older province.

Outside British India, but often included within the sphere of the presidencies/provinces, were the hundreds of protectorates or 'princely states'. These were indirectly ruled states, the largest being Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Mysore. The others were either collected into agencies - which might in turn contain other smaller agencies - or fell under the sway of the provinces.