meaning of protectorates
1.  Government by a protector; -- applied especially to the government of England by Oliver Cromwell. 
2.  The authority assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs. 
3.  a state or territory partly controlled by but not a possession of a stronger state but autonomous in internal affairs; protectorates are established by treaty
						 
