Somaliland was a British colony until 26 June 1960 , when it became the Somaliland Protectorate , an independent country . On 1 July , 1960 , the Somaliland Protectorate joined a new country called Somalia , and they formed the Somali Republic . The government of Somaliland regards the territory as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate , which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of Somaliland , before uniting with the Trust Territory of Somalia ( the former Italian Somaliland ) later the same week to form the Somali Republic .