Suzerainty differs from sovereignty in that the dominant power allows tributary states to be technically independent but enjoy only limited self-rule.
The other states had to send a tributary envoy to China on schedule, who would kowtow to the Chinese emperor as a form of tribute, and acknowledge his superiority and precedence.
The other countries followed China's formal ritual in order to keep the peace with the more powerful neighbor and be eligible for diplomatic or military help under certain conditions.
John King Fairbank and Teng Ssu-yu created the "tribute system" theory in a series of articles in the early 1940s to describe "a set of ideas and practices developed and perpetuated by the rulers of China over many centuries."
[8] In practice the behaviours which were collectively seen as a tributary system, involving tribute and gift exchange in return for symbolic subordination, were only formalized during the early years of the Ming dynasty.
[9] Tributary members were virtually autonomous and carried out their own agendas despite paying tribute; this was the case with Japan, Korea, Ryukyu, and Vietnam.
[15] Suzerainty treaties and similar covenants and agreements between Middle Eastern states were quite prevalent during the pre-monarchic and monarchy periods in Ancient Israel.
[16] According to the Hittite form, after the stipulations were offered to the vassal, it was necessary to include a request to have copies of the treaty that would be read throughout the kingdom periodically.
[20] The principle of paramountcy was explicitly stated in a letter by Lord Reading to the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, in 1926, "The sovereignty of the British Crown is supreme in India and therefore no ruler of an Indian State can justifiably claim to negotiate with the British Government on an equal footing."
Under pressure from Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian National Congress resolved not to interfere directly but called on the princes to increase civil liberties and reduce their own privileges.
[24] With the impending independence of India in 1947, the Governor-General Lord Mountbatten announced that the British paramountcy over Indian states would come to an end.
The Congress leaders agreed to the plan on the condition that Mountbatten ensure that the majority of the states within the Indian territory accede to India.
[citation needed] Located in the Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep is a Union territory of India off the coast of the southwestern state of Kerala.
The term was never precisely defined but it meant that the Indian states were subject to the suzerainty of the British Crown exercised through the Viceroy of India.
[citation needed] After the First Boer War (1880–81), the South African Republic was granted its independence, albeit under British suzerainty.
[citation needed] Following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918), the German Empire received a very short-lived suzerainty over the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
... West of the Anduin as far as the Misty Mountains and the Gap of Rohan shall be tributary to Mordor, and men there shall bear no weapons, but shall have leave to govern their own affairs.