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The Spanish Sahara refers to Spain's colonization of parts of present-day Western Sahara and Ifni from 1884 to 1975. Spanish authorities first claimed protection over the territories encompassing the Rio de Oro region between Bahia del Oeste, known today as La Guera near present day Cape Blanco, and Cape Bojador through royal decree on December 7, 1884. This was done primarily to protect Spanish fishing and trade interests, especially against other European powers that were also active in the region. The Spanish Sahara was officially recognized by members of the international community at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, which established the terms for the colonization of Africa, although Spain did not establish a firm presence in the region until the beginning of the twentieth century. The Spanish Possessions in the Sahara, as they were originally known, were renamed the Provinces in 1958 following the Ifni-Sahara war of 1957. Spain officially withdrew from the Sahara in 1975 following Moroccan invasion amidst wider calls from the United Nations for Sahrawi independence.

Early History (1884-1900)
Spanish presence in the Sahara began out of a corporate pursuit for "exploration, geography, fishing, colonization and commerce." However, it was the threat posed by the successful British trading post at Cape Juby, located off of the Spanish-controlled Canary Islands, as well as the potential expansion of the British into the Rio de Oro territory occupied by the Spanish that triggered a response from the government. After establishing its protectorate in 1884, Spain launched a series of expeditions in order to explore the region and establish trading links with the Sahrawi people. The most famous of these expeditions was headed in 1886 by Julio Cervera Baviera, Felipe Rizzo, and Francisco Quiroga, with the aim of advancing their scientific knowledge of the Sahara. On July 10, 1884, they met with the representatives of the tribes of the Cape Bojador-Cape Blanco-Ijil zone, who ceded over their territories to the Spanish explorers, seemingly demonstrating local support for Spanish occupation. Spanish authorities also set up the shore-station or port of Villa Cisneros, also known as Dakhla, soon after 1884. Originally intended as a trading fort, Dakhla met with little success due to its location away from the main Trans-Saharan caravan routes, although it did have some success in the export of fish. Periodic attacks by local tribes also disrupted commercial activities, yet Spanish officials remained hesitant to deploy any significant troops. As a result, Spanish presence in the Sahara, both in terms of military and commercial personnel, was fairly limited until the beginning of the 20th century, and was predominantly restricted to the coast.

Foreign Relations and Tensions (1900-1957)
Spain initially met with France, who also maintained a presence in the Sahara, in order to divide parts of the territory between the two countries on June 27, 1900, with negotiations taking place over the course of the next few years. Some of the borders that were later agreed upon did not manifest themselves until 1912, however, partially due to Spanish support for both the Sahrawi and the French depending on when it served their interests. The delayed implementation of French-Spanish borders in the Sahara can also be attributed to the influence of Ma El Ainin, a Sahrawi religious and political leader. His father's lineage conferred upon El Ainin the highly regarded status of chorfa, allowing him to garner wide-ranging support in his jihad against Spanish and French colonialism beginning in 1895. He united Saharan tribes that were long known for feuding, and he is thought to have contributed to some of the sentiments held by POLISARIO, a Sahrawi nationalist movement engaged in the independence of Western Sahara first from Spanish and now from Moroccan control. El Ainin's sons continued their father's rebellion on his behalf after his death in 1910, with El Heiba being the most active of his sons in the Spanish Sahara.

1916 was marked by the first effects of World War I in the region, leading some Sahrawi tribes to alter their alliances with the European powers in an increasingly unpredictable political climate. For example, the arrival in 1929 of Mohammed el Mamun, a cousin of one of El Ainin's sons, aggravated the rift between the Sahrawi and the French. Agdaf, another son of El Ainin, began to prefer Spanish rather than French occupation in Cape Juby, which would officially come under Spanish control that same year. Spain's transition to a dictatorship in 1925 further expanded the country's military presence in the Sahara, with Dakhla, Cape Juby, and La Guera soon coming under their control through the military offensives undertaken by colonial governor Francisco Bens. Furthermore, despite being recognized as part of Spain by Moroccan and European powers as early as 1860, Ifni did not come under Spanish control until 1933 on Spain's seventh attempt at occupying the enclave.

By 1934, both Spain and France had gained full control over their respective territories, with both countries being less hesitant to intervene militarily in the region. Hostilities with the locals continued, however, often causing Spanish pilots to be hesitant to fly to the Sahara out of fear of being confronted by nomads upon landing. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 followed by the eventual victory of the Nationalists and Francisco Franco in 1939 further complicated Spain's control over the Sahara. Hitler's alliance with the Franco regime, for example, made Germany consider setting up military bases in the region in 1937, although this never manifested. Significant investments were nevertheless needed in order to maintain control over the Spanish Sahara, with particular attention being given to improving territorial surveillance. Similar motivations pushed Spanish authorities to place the region under military rule from 1935 onwards. Internal conflict and "othering" were also persistent throughout this period, with Arabs, Berbers, Black Africans, and Europeans viewing each other as inferior, not only because of appearance but also because of religious and/or sectarian creed.

The End of the Spanish Sahara (1957-1975)
Spain began to lose its control over the region with the outbreak of the Ifni-Sahara War in 1957. After receiving its independence from France, Morocco, working through the Moroccan Army of Liberation, began to support rebels in Ifni and the Sahara who sought liberation from Spain. The Army had originally obtained Franco's consent to enter Spanish territory in order to reach and attack French forces in Mauritania and Algeria in 1956, but their motivations quickly changed. Moroccan political leader Allal el Fassi also began claiming territory in the Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Algeria, and Mali that same year. The first attack on the Spanish took place on November 23, 1957 in the city of Sidi Ifni, which led to indiscriminate bombing on the rebels and any suspected collaborators by both the French and Spanish militaries. Spain ceded its former protectorate in Southern Morocco, known as the Cape Juby Strip or the Tarfaya Strip, to Morocco on April 2, 1958, although the enclave of Ifni would remain in Spanish hands until its cession on December 16, 1969. Both the Sahara and Ifni territories were renamed Spanish provinces following the war, as opposed to Spanish possessions, in order for Spain to symbolically distance itself from its history of colonization. When asked in previous years by the United Nations to provide a list of Spanish-controlled territories that were not self-governing, Franco had refused to do so, but growing calls for decolonization now put international pressure on Spain. The new provinces were written into law on April 19, 1961 through Act 8/61, and amended on November 29, 1962.

Spain made attempts to regain the support of the Sahrawi population following the war: victims were compensated for the destruction of their land, as well as the loss of any family members. Access to health care, food, education and other public services was also expanded, yet limited primarily to urban environments. Furthermore, local notables and their families remained the dominant beneficiaries of such aid, creating a new upper class in the provinces that was loyal to the Spanish. A number of Sahrawi-led institutions were also put in place, such as the Yemáa or general assembly, but de-facto power remained within the General Government of the Sahara run by the Spanish military, with Spain being firmly in charge of the legal system from 1955 onwards. Such unequal access to social benefits and limited democratic input led to increased frustration among many members of the Sahrawi population. Furthermore, as more Spaniards and other Europeans migrated to the costal cities in search of employment in the fishing industry or mineral extraction, locals were increasingly pushed outside of cities in the context of ongoing droughts.

It is within this political climate that the Polisario Front or POLISARIO first emerged in May 1973, made up primarily of young Sahrawis born into the new colonial hierarchy, who called for the independence of the Sahara. The United Nations General Assembly had initiated a series of resolutions as early as 1965 calling for the departure of the Spanish, as well as the organization of a census and referendum on Sahrawi self-determination. It was the invasion of the Sahara known as the Green March ordered by King Hassan II of Morocco on November 6, 1975, however, that finally forced the Spain to retreat, although complications at home, such as Franco's failing health, had already made Spain's continued occupation of the region precarious. As a result of the invasion, the UN referendum never took place, with Spain signing over its former province to Morocco and Mauritania on November 14, 1975 through the Madrid Accords, bringing about an end to the Spanish Sahara.