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Spanish Sahara was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was ruled as a territory by Spain in 1884-1975.
Colonization In 1884, Spain was awarded the coastal area of present-day Western Sahara at the Berlin Conference, and began establishing trading posts and a military presence. The borders of the area were not clearly defined until treaties between Spain and France in the early 20th century. Spanish Sahara was then created from the Spanish territories of Río de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra in 1924. It was not part of, and administered separately from, the areas known as Spanish Morocco. Entering the territory in 1884, Spain was immediately challenged by stiff resistance from the indigenous Sahrawi tribes. A 1904 rebellion led by the powerful Smara-based marabout, shaykh Ma al-Aynayn was put down by France in 1910, but it was followed by a wave of uprisings under Ma al-Aynayns sons, grandsons and other political leaders. Modern history Because of this, Spain proved unable to extend control to the interior parts of the country until 1934, when the French army joined in crushing a major Sahrawi rebellion. Unrest continued, however, and in 1957, rebels headed by the Moroccan-backed Army of Liberation nearly expelled the Spanish from the country in the Ifni War. The Spanish were able to re-establish control with the assistance of the French by 1958, and embarked on a harsh strategy of retaliation towards the countryside, forcibly settling many of the previously nomadic bedouins of Spanish Sahara and speeding up urbanization. They then acted to co-opt tribal leaders by setting up the Djema'a, a political institution (very) loosely based on traditional Sahrawi tribal leaderships. The Djema'a members were hand-picked by the authorities, but given privileges in return for rubber-stamping Madrid's decisions. In 1967, the Spanish colonization was challenged by a peaceful protest movement, the Harakat Tahrir, which demanded independence. After its violent suppression in the 1970 Zemla Intifada, Sahrawi nationalism reverted to its militant origins, with the 1973 formation of the Polisario Front. The Front's guerrilla army grew rapidly, and Spain had lost effective control over most of the countryside in early 1975. An attempt at sapping the strength of Polisario by creating a modern political rival to it, the Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui (PUNS), met with little success. Immediately before the death of the ageing Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the winter of 1975, however, Spain was confronted with an aggressive campaign of territorial demands from Morocco, and to a lesser extent Mauritania, culminating in the Green March. Spain then withdrew its forces and settlers from the territory, after negotiating a secret agreement with Morocco and Mauritania, both of which promptly invaded the country. Mauritania later surrendered its claim after fighting an unsuccessful war against the Polisario. Morocco is still engaged in a war with the Sahrawi rebels, although a cease-fire came into effect in 1991, and the territory remains under dispute. Present status The United Nations considers the former Spanish Sahara a non-decolonized territory, with Spain as the formal administrative power. UN peace efforts have aimed at the organization of a referendum on independence among the Sahrawi population, but this has not yet taken place. The African Union and at least 44 governments consider the territory a sovereign, albeit occupied, state under the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which an exile government backed by the Polisario Front. See also | ||||||||
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