Spanish Sahara
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox former country Spanish Sahara (Template:Langx; Template:Langx), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain between 1884 and 1976. It had been one of the most recent acquisitions as well as one of the last remaining holdings of the Spanish Empire, which had once extended from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies.
Between 1946 and 1958, the Spanish Sahara was amalgamated with the nearby Spanish-protected Cape Juby and Spanish Ifni to form a new colony, Spanish West Africa. This was reversed during the Ifni War when Ifni and the Sahara became provinces of Spain separately, two days apart, while Cape Juby was ceded to Morocco in the peace deal.
Spain gave up its Saharan possession following international pressure, mainly from United Nations resolutions regarding decolonisation. There was internal pressure from the native Sahrawi population, through the Polisario Front, and the claims of Morocco and Mauritania. After gaining independence in 1956, Morocco laid claim to the territory as part of a claimed historic pre-colonial territory. Mauritania also claimed the territory for a number of years on a historical basis.
In 1976, Mauritania and Morocco invaded the territory, now known as Western Sahara, but the Polisario Front, promoting the sovereignty of an independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, fought a guerrilla war against both, forcing Mauritania to relinquish its claim in 1979. The war against Morocco continued until 1991, when the UN negotiated a ceasefire and has tried to arrange negotiations and a referendum to let the population vote on its future. Today, Morocco occupies about two-thirds of the territory, while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic controls the rest. Spain continues to be the de jure administering power of Western Sahara.
Name
Officially the territory was called the Province of Sahara from 1958 to 1976. However before 1958 it was divided into three administrative zones, Rio De Oro, the "occupied zone" and the Southern Protectorate.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
History
Beginning
Since the 18th century, Spanish fishermen from the Canary Islands had been coming to the shores of Western Sahara, where fish are plentiful. At the end of the 19th century, several Africanist societies, like the Spanish Association for the Exploration of Africa, were formed to explore and colonize this still largely unknown territory.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> These associations formed a lobby group to put pressure on the Spanish government of Canovas de Castillo to provide government assistance to their ventures. They were assisted in this by large business interests, who hoped to capitalize on the trans Saharan caravan trade and exploit the fishing resources of the coast of Rio de Oro. They also received support from King Alfonso in the form of a donation.<ref name=":0" /> Despite his personal misgivings regarding the venture, due to the political pressure exerted by these groups, De Castillo proceeded to claim the Saharan coast at the Congress of Berlin.<ref name=":0" />
Occupation and annexation
In September 1881, the Sociedad Pesquerías Canario-Africanas built a pontoon in the Rio de Oro bay after they were ceded the Dakhla peninsula by local leaders.<ref name=":0" /> In 1884, fearing a British or French takeover of the region the Sociedad Española de Africanistas y Colonistas sent Emilio Bonelli to the Saharan coast to negotiate with the tribes to establish a Spanish presence. On November 28 1884, Bonelli signed a treaty with three representatives of the Oulad Bou Sbaa which authorised the establishment of trading posts in Río de Oro, Cape Blanc and Angra de Cintra.<ref name=":0" />
Using Bonelli's treaty as justification, the Africanistas persuaded the Spanish government to declare a protectorate over Rio de Oro, Cape Blanc and Angra de Cintra in December 1884.<ref name=":0" /> Their claim was later ratified at the Berlin Conference the following month. However the Spanish only settled in Rio de Oro. Construction of a fort was begun in January 1885 by the Spanish Africa Commercial Company at Rio de Oro. However it was later abandoned in May due to an attack from the Oulad Delim. However Canovas de Castillo pledged to the Cortes to maintain the Spanish presence, and the fort was reoccupied by a detachment of soldiers commanded by Captain Jose Chacon in June. They rebuilt the fort, naming it Vila Cisneros after the Cardinal Cisneros. To protect the newly founded settlement a garrison of 25 troops were left there, who would be relieved every three months by a supply ship from the Canary islands. Despite this the Oulad Delim attacked again in 1887, 1892 and 1894, only stopping in 1895 after an agreement with Sheikh Ouled Laroussi, a poweful leader in the tribe.<ref name=":0" /> To further cement Spanish control on July 10th, 1885, Spain proclaimed a protectorate over the coast from Cape Bojador to Cape Blanc under the authority of the Overseas Ministry. Bonelli was appointed the Royal Commissioner, who would administer the protectorate, make treaties with the natives and command all armed forces within it.<ref name=":0" /> A further decree in 1887 extened Spanish jurisdiction 150 miles inland, declared it a Spanish colony and transferred authority to a "politico-military sub governor" resident in Vila Cisneros and subordinate to the Captain General of the Canary Islands. In the summer of 1886, under the sponsorship of the Spanish Society of Commercial Geography (Sociedad Española de Geografía Comercial), Julio Cervera Baviera, Felipe Rizzo (1823–1908) and Francisco Quiroga (1853–1894) traversed the territory, and made topographical and astronomical observations. At the time, geographers had not mapped the territory and its features were not widely known. Their trek is considered the first scientific expedition in that part of the Sahara.<ref name=":1" /> They managed to reach the salt pans of Idjil and there on July 12th 1886 signed a treaty with the Emir of Adrar and Saharwai chieftains which ceded to Spain control over vast areas of desert. However Spain could never assert these claims due to diplomatic weakness and a lack of resources to actually occupy these vast areas.<ref name=":0" />
On June 27 1900 France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, which defined the border between the Spanish Sahara and French Mauritania.<ref name=":0" /> These borders were clarified by a convention in 1904, where Spain lost vast claims in Southern Morocco. The 1904 convention also recognized Spain's right to Santa Cruz de Mar Pequena, arbitrarily located at Ifni and given fixed frontiers. Hoping to compensate Spain for this loss of territory, France recognized unconditional Spanish sovereignty in Seigua El Hamra. In 1912 Morocco became a French Protectorate after the Treaty of Fez, which meant a final treaty regarding the Spanish possessions was now required. A final convention on the 12th of November 1912 demarcated the final borders between the French and Spanish Zones in Morocco.<ref name="Rezette">Robert Rézette, The Western Sahara and the Frontiers of Morocco (Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 1975), p. 60.</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In this convention the Spanish zone was relegated to a small strip of coastline and a portion of the Rif Mountains in the North. The Spanish also lost influence in the South, only being given a protectorate over an area sandwiched between the Draa river and parallel 27° 40'. This was known as the Spanish Southern Morocco. It was separated from the de jure Spanish Ifni by French ruled territory. However it further confirmed direct Spanish sovereignty over Seigua El Hamra.<ref name=":0" />
Sahrawi insurgency and Moroccan claims
After gaining independence in 1956, Morocco laid claim to Spanish Sahara as part of its historic pre-colonial territory. In 1957, the Moroccan Army of Liberation nearly occupied the small territory of Ifni, north of Spanish Sahara, during the Ifni War. The Spanish sent a regiment of paratroopers from the nearby Canary Islands and repelled the attacks. With the assistance of the French, Spain soon re-established control in the area through Operaciones Teide-Ecoubillon (Spanish name) / Opérations Ecouvillon (French name).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Spain tried to suppress resistance politically. It forced some of the previously nomadic inhabitants of Spanish Sahara to settle in certain areas, and the rate of urbanisation was increased. In 1958, Spain united the territories of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro to form the overseas province of Spanish Sahara, while ceding the province of the Cape Juby strip (which included Villa Bens) in the same year to Morocco.
In the 1960s, Morocco continued to claim Spanish SaharaTemplate:Citation needed. It gained agreement by the United NationsTemplate:Citation needed to add the territory to the list of territories to be decolonised. In 1969, Spain ceded Ifni to Morocco, but continued to retain Spanish Sahara.
In 1967, Spanish rule was challenged by the Harakat Tahrir, a Sahrawi movement created by Muhammad Bassiri. In 1970, Spain suppressed the Zemla Intifada.
In 1973, the Polisario Front was formed in a revival of militant Sahrawi nationalism. The Front's guerrilla army grew rapidly, and Spain lost effective control over most of the territory by early 1975. Its effort to found a political rival, the Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui (PUNS), met with little success. Spain proceeded to co-opt tribal leaders by setting up the Djema'a, a political institution loosely based on traditional Sahrawi tribal leaders. The Djema'a members were hand-picked by the authorities, but given privileges in return for rubber-stamping Madrid's decisions.Template:Citation needed
Morocco asserts that the territory was under Moroccan royal sovereignty at the time when the Spanish claimed it in 1884. To back its claims the country cites two sixteenth-century treaties, the Treaty of Alcáçovas and the Treaty of Cintra, between Spain and Portugal, where both countries recognize that the authority of Morocco extended beyond Cabo Bojador. Other treaties extending the authority further south are also raised, like the one between the Sharifian Sultanate and Spain of 1 March 1767<ref name="Ammoun">Fouad Ammoun, Separate Opinion of Vice-President Ammoun, International Court of Justice, 1975, p. 79.</ref> or the Anglo-Moroccan Agreement of 13 March 1895.<ref>Fouad Ammoun, Separate Opinion of Vice-President Ammoun, International Court of Justice, 1975, p. 81.</ref> However, the International Court of Justice found in their Advisory opinion on Western Sahara of 1975 that those treaties only proved ties of allegiance (Bay'ah) between this territory and the Kingdom of Morocco, and were not legal ties extending to sovereignty over the territory.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>
In the winter of 1975, just before the death of its long-time dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco, Spain was confronted with an intensive campaign of territorial demands from Morocco and, to a lesser extent, from Mauritania. These culminated in the Marcha Verde ('Green March'), where a mass demonstration of 350,000 Moroccans coordinated by the Moroccan government advanced several kilometres into the Western Sahara territory, bypassing the International Court of Justice's Advisory opinion on Western Sahara that had been issued three weeks prior.<ref name="Bereketeab 2014 p. 260-262">Template:Cite book</ref> After negotiating the Madrid Accords with Morocco and Mauritania, Spain withdrew its forces and citizens from the territory.
Morocco and Mauritania took control of the region. Mauritania later surrendered its claim after fighting an unsuccessful war against the Polisario Front. In the process of annexing the region, Morocco started fighting the Polisario Front, and after sixteen years, the UN negotiated a cease-fire in 1991. Today, the sovereignty of the territory remains in dispute between Morocco and the Sahrawi people, and referendum has not been possible to date due to dispute over who can vote.<ref>Erik Jensen, Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate, p. 17.</ref>
Present status
Western Sahara is listed by the United Nations (UN) as a non-decolonized territory and is thus included in the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories. Under international law, Western Sahara is not a legal part of Morocco, and it remains under the international laws of military occupation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Officially, the Kingdom of Spain remains as Western Sahara's de jure administering power as affirmed by the criminal division of the Spanish National High Court ruling in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This position is shared by the United Nations, the African Union, and several legal jurists.<ref>Template:UN doc</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Additionally, Spain continues to administer the Western Saharan airspace.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Moroccan settlers currently make up more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the territory.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Under international law, Morocco's transfer of its own civilians into occupied territory is in direct violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
UN peace efforts have been directed at holding a referendum on independence among the Sahrawi population, but this has not yet taken place. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been recognized by 84 UN member states<ref name="Orvis">Template:Cite book</ref> and the African Union (of which it is a founding member).
See also
- List of colonial governors of Spanish Sahara
- International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara
- History of Western Sahara
- Moroccan Army of Liberation
- Southern Provinces
- Tiris al-Gharbiyya
- Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
- Spanish West Africa
References
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Template:Spanish Empire Template:Coord Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Spanish Sahara
- Spanish Africa
- Former colonies in Africa
- Former Spanish colonies
- States and territories established in 1884
- States and territories disestablished in 1976
- 1884 establishments in Africa
- 1976 disestablishments in Africa
- 1884 establishments in the Spanish Empire
- 1976 disestablishments in Spain
- 19th century in Western Sahara
- 20th century in Western Sahara
- Former provinces of Spain
- Morocco–Spain relations