The British Empire had many protectorates around the world. The first was The Protectorate of the Commonwealth of England in the 1660s, Bahrain was also a British protectorate until it gained independence. Later, Kuwait was a British protectorate from 1899 to 1961 and is now independent. Sikkim was a protectorate of India until 1975 and now is a state of India. Bhutan is also a protected state of India.