sentences:  In practice, however, Egypt had little authority over the interior and their period of rule on the coast was brief, lasting only a few years (1870–84).The British Somaliland protectorate was subsequently established in the late 1880s after the ruling Somali authorities signed a series of protection treaties granting the British access to their territories on the northwestern coast.Among the Somali signatories were the Gadabuursi (1884), Habar Awal (1884 and 1886), and Warsangali.