Spanish Sahara

Overseas Province of Spanish Sahara
Provincia Ultramarina del Sahara Español إقليم الصحراء الإسبانية ما وراء البحار
1884–1975
Flag Coat of arms
Green: Spanish Sahara. Dark grey: Other Spanish possessions. Darkest grey: Spain.
Capital		El Aaiún
Languages		Spanish Hassaniya Arabic
Religion		Roman Catholicism Sunni Islam
Government		Not specified
Royal Commissioner
•	1885–1886	Emilio Bonelli Hernando
Subgovernor
•	1886–1902	Emilio Bonelli Hernando
•	1902–1903	Ángel Villalobos
Governor
•	1903–1925 (first)	Francisco Bens Argandoña
•	1974–1976 (last)
History
•	Established	26 December 1884
•	Madrid Accords	14 November 1975
•	Disestablished	26 February 1976
Currency		Spanish peseta
Preceded by Succeeded by Spanish West Africa Southern Provinces Tiris al-Gharbiyya Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Today part of		Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (claimed by  Morocco)

Spanish Sahara (Spanish: Sahara Español; Arabic: الصحراء الإسبانية‎‎ As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah) was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled as a territory by Spain between 1884 and 1975. It had been one of the most recent acquisitions of the Spanish Empire, as well as one of its last remaining holdings, which had once extended from the Americas to the Philippines and East Asia.

Spain gave up its Saharan possession following Moroccan demands and international pressure, mainly from United Nations resolutions regarding decolonisation. There was internal pressure from the native Sahrawi population and the claims of Morocco. Mauritania also claimed the territory for a number of years based on its history, and then dropped all claims. In 1975 Morocco occupied much of the territory, but the Polisario Front, promoting sovereignty of an independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), fought a guerrilla resistance for 16 years against Morocco. In 1991 the UN negotiated a ceasefire, and has tried to arrange negotiations and a referendum to let the population vote on its future. Morocco controls the entire Atlantic coast and most of the landmass, population, and natural resources of Western Sahara.

Before and during the Spanish occupation (1884–1975), the territory was inhabited by Saharan Arabs who lived in many oases and coastal villages. They worked mainly in fishing and camel herding. They speak Hassaniya language, a Bedouin Arabic dialect. There is some dispute and ambiguity about whether the territory was under Moroccan royal sovereignty at the time when the Spanish claimed it in 1884.

While the Berlin Conference, where the European powers were establishing the rules for setting up zones of influence or protection in Africa, was ongoing, Spain declared "a protectorate of the African coast" from Cape Blanc to Cape Bojador on 26 December 1884. It officially informed the other powers in writing on 14 January 1885. It began establishing trading posts and a military presence. In July 1885, the king appointed Emilio Bonelli commissioner of the Río de Oro with civil and military authority. On 6 April 1887, it was incorporated into the Captaincy General of the Canary Islands for military purposes. 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 colony, which was called Río de Oro, 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. In 1886, Spain signed the Treaty of Idjil by which the emirate of Adrar ceded the land of the colony to Spain. This treaty was of no legal value, since the emir of Adrar had no claim to the territory, but since Morocco had no claim either (at least since the Hispano-Moroccan Treaty of 1767), the Spanish "invented" a claim which Adrar could, with no harm to itself, immediately cede away.