Spanish Sahara

Spanish Sahara (Spanish: Sahara Español; Arabic: الصحراء الإسبانية, romanized: aṣ-Ṣaḥrā' al-Isbānīyah), 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 United Nations 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.