The Spanish Colonial Period: Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro

The Beginnings in 1884

Spain's foothold on the Saharan coast dates to 1884, when it declared a protectorate over the coastal zone of Rio de Oro around the trading post of Villa Cisneros, today Dakhla. The move came during the European partition of Africa.

For decades Spanish control remained thin, limited largely to coastal enclaves, while the interior remained under the authority of Saharan tribes whose ties of allegiance ran toward the Moroccan throne and local religious leaders.

Forming the Colony

Over the following decades Spain extended its administration inland and organized the territory into two main regions: Saguia el-Hamra in the north and Rio de Oro in the south. These were later joined administratively into the colony of Spanish Sahara.

Spanish control deepened in the 1930s and after, often facing resistance from Saharan tribes and from forces linked to the broader Moroccan anti-colonial struggle, which contested European partition of the region.

Borders Drawn by Treaty

The frontiers of Spanish Sahara were fixed largely through Franco-Spanish conventions that divided spheres of influence in northwest Africa. These were colonial administrative lines drawn between European powers rather than borders reflecting the region's own social geography.

Morocco emphasizes this point: the colonial boundaries cut across tribal territories and historic allegiances, separating the Sahara from the rest of the Sharifian state by lines that the local population had no role in drawing.

Decolonization and the Road to 1975

After Moroccan independence in 1956, Rabat consistently raised the question of the Spanish-held south at the United Nations, framing it as unfinished decolonization of the national territory.

Spanish rule continued until the crisis of 1975, when phosphate wealth at Bou Craa, international pressure and the Green March converged to bring the colonial period to a close under the Madrid Accords.

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