Spanish Africa

Spanish Africa is the name given during the 20th century to the African territories under Spanish sovereignty or protectorate, especially applied to the colonial dependencies of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco formed by the areas of the Rif to the north and Cape Juby to the south, Spanish Sahara, Ifni and Spanish Guinea.

The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the places of sovereignty, together with the other territorial entities and with full integrity, make up the national territory of Spain.

History

In 1497, Spain annexed the abandoned city of Melilla to the crown of Castile, eight years later Mazalquivir, in 1509 Oran, and in the century XVII other ports that are currently part of the States of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The integration of Portugal into Spain (1580-1640) led to the incorporation of its colonies into the territories under the rule of the king of Spain; Most of these territories would be lost later, except for the area of Oran, lost to the Algerians in 1708 but recovered in 1732 by the Spanish. This city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1790, so the Spanish, being attacked by the Sultan of Algiers, agreed to withdraw in 1792 in exchange for access to the port, a factory in Mazalquivir and the concession of coral fishing. In the 15th century Santa Cruz de Mar Pequena was founded.

Through the First Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777) between Spain and Portugal, Portugal incorporated the island of Santa Catalina into its Brazilian territories, in exchange for the islands of Fernando Poo and Annobón in Africa, as well as the license to trade with the mainland coast of Cameroon and Gabon to Cape Formoso. It was not until 1843 when the sailor Juan José Lerena y Barry took possession of Fernando Poo, Corisco and Río Muni for Spain.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the XX, Morocco was a territory disputed by European powers, mainly France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the German Empire. Spain participated in the following wars and occupations:

• War of Africa (1859-1860), which ended with the Wad-Ras Treaty.
• War of Margallo or First War of the Rif (1893-1894).
• War of Melilla and Desastre del Barranco del Lobo (1909).
• Spanish Protector of Morocco (1913-1956): it was not until 1912 when France, with the support of Germany and the withdrawal of British and Italian interests, made the deal with Spain of Morocco, assigning it a northern territory (Yebala-Rif) and another south (Tarfaya).
• War of the Rif (1911-1926): the Spanish occupation clashed with a violent opposition in the Rif by Abd al-Krim that materialized in the so-called Annual Disaster (1921); Abd al-Krim proclaimed himself president of the Republic of the Rif (1921-1926). The landing of Alhucemas (1925), under the command of General Primo de Rivera, began operations leading to the defeat of Abd el-Krim and the occupation and total pacification of the Spanish Protectorate area.
• During the Second World War, Spanish troops occupied the international area of Tangier between 14 June 1940 and 11 October 1945.
• End of the Protectorate (1956): In deciding France to put an end to the protectorate and the independence of Morocco, Spain signed in April 1956 the unemployment of the Rif and in 1958, as a result of the war of Ifni (1957-1958), gave it the territory of Tarfaya, which was within the area of the protectorate (Treaty of Fez of 1912).
• In 1969, due to the decolonizing pressure of the UN, Spain reversed the territory of Ifni to Morocco.
• In 1975, the king of Morocco, Hasan II, taking advantage of Franco's agony and Juan Carlos' regiment, mobilized the Moroccan people in the call Green march towards the Spanish Sahara, getting Spain to leave it, giving the occupation to Morocco and Mauritania after the agreements of Madrid without permission from the UN; legally it remains a Spanish colony.

Spanish colonial territories

Spanish Protectorate of Morocco

It was made up of two zones: to the north the Rif zone, with borders with Ceuta, Melilla, the sovereignty squares and the international zone of Tangier, and to the south the Cape Juby zone that bordered the Spanish Sahara.

The first signs of protectorate could be found in the Portuguese and Castilian expeditions to expand through the area. However, it was in the 19th century, when the Moroccan sultanate was very weakened, that the European powers began to think about dividing up the territory, especially France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany. In the Spanish case, with the pretext of taking revenge for the attacks on Ceuta, it launched an attack on the Moroccan forces, in what would become the African War. Finally, the United Kingdom abandons its claims on Morocco.

After a while, the Riffian Kabyles near Melilla began to have clashes with the Spanish troops stationed there, to the point of General Margallo dying in battle. After this, the Spanish government sends troops for a second war, while the sultan sends his brother to put an end to the revolt of the Riffian Kabyles. This would be the Margallo War, which is considered the first step to the protectorate.

After the United Kingdom and Italy abandoned their interests, Morocco was divided between Spain and France into two protectorates, which would give rise to the Rif War in 1911, whose best-known events would be the Annual Disaster and the Landing of Al Hoceima and which would end in 1927, with the pacification of the Rif by Spain and France.

Morocco would achieve independence from France and Spain in 1956, when the former decided to end the protectorate.

Ifni

The first signs of colonization occurred in 1476, when the Crown of Castile occupied this area with the founding of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequena in relation to the Canary Islands, abandoned in 1524 to the detriment of interests in the Indies.

Throughout the centuries Spain maintained sovereignty over this territory, limited to Canarian fishing on its coasts. This was also recognized in the Treaty of Wad Ras of 1860 for the Spanish victory in the African war against Morocco. In 1934, after the French conquest of Morocco,[1] and the formalization of agreements with local tribes, Colonel Capaz occupied the territory of Ifni.

After the independence of Morocco, Spain and France fought the Ifni-Sahara War (1957-1958) against nationalist attacks by irregular Moroccan forces. The Cintra Agreement ceded Ifni to Morocco, except for the city of Sidi Ifni. Decolonization promoted by the UN meant that, in 1969, Morocco annexed the modern city of Sidi-Ifni.

Spanish Sahara

After the expeditions of Emilio Bonelli, Spain achieved recognition of the territory of Río de Oro at the Berlin Conference of 1884. After the Treaties of Paris (1900), the sovereignty of the Saguía el Hamra area was ratified, which would border with the Spanish territory of Cape Juby. The Spanish Sahara was first a colony and then a province and its capital was El Aaiún, with other important towns being Villa Cisneros and La Güera. After the independence of Morocco in 1956, it suffered its attacks in the Ifni-Sahara war of 1957-1958. During the political instability of late Francoism, the territory was invaded by Morocco in the Green March and the Madrid Tripartite Agreement was signed. Since the departure of the Spanish administration, the territory has been called Western Sahara, and it is a disputed territory.

Spanish Guinea

Located in the Gulf of Guinea, it is currently the independent state of Equatorial Guinea. The Spanish Territories of the Gulf of Guinea included the islands of Fernando Poo, Annobón, Elobey and Corisco and Spanish Continental Guinea, whose limit was drawn in the Treaty of Paris, which left the continental part of the colony in only one tenth of the original; These different territories and islands were reunited in 1926, becoming known as Spanish Guinea. Colonization began in 1885 until the colony became independent in 1968. The colony even had political participation in the Spanish Cortes during the Franco regime.

In 1959, the Spanish territories in the Gulf of Guinea acquired the status of Spanish overseas provinces, similar to that of the metropolitan provinces. The territory was divided into two provinces: Fernando Poo (with the islands of Fernando Poo and Annobón) and Río Muni (with Continental Guinea and the Elobey and Corisco islands); and it was called the Spanish Equatorial Region. As such a region, it was governed by a governor general exercising all civil and military powers. The first local elections were held in 1960, and the first Guinean court attorneys were elected. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, the two provinces were reunified and provided with limited autonomy, with bodies common to the entire territory (including a legislative body) and bodies specific to each province. Although the commissioner general had broad powers, the General Assembly of Spanish Guinea had considerable initiative in formulating laws and regulations.

In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announced that it would grant independence. A constitutional convention was formed that produced an electoral law and a draft constitution. The referendum on the constitution occurred on August 11, 1968, under the supervision of a team of United Nations observers. 63% of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution. Then the first independent government was formed.

This colony was made up of the territories of:

• Rio Muni: it was the mainland region of Spanish Guinea. His capital was in Bata. I had an extension. 26 000 km2 and a population of more than 300 000 inhabitants approximately. Rio Muni, was ceded by Portugal to Spain in 1778. It was a separate colony until its union with Fernando Poo and Annobón forming the Spanish Guinea in 1926. It would then become part of Equatorial Guinea as its continental territory. The largest cities were Bata and Mbini.

• Fernando Poo: The island was also visited in 1472 by the Portuguese navigator Fernando Poo, who baptized it as Flor Formosa, but then adopted the name of his discoverer for Europe. It has an area of about 2017 km2. Following the treaties of San Ildefonso of 1777 and El Pardo (March 1778), Portugal ceded to Spain its rights on the island, together with Annobón and the coast of Guinea. In April of the same year Spain mounted an expedition to Fernando Poo, led by the Count of Algiers, which will remain in nothing four months later; from October 1778 to November 1780 a Spanish governor will be established, being then the island abandoned by the Spanish mission. Taking advantage of the Spanish absence the British intervened on the island between 1827 and 1840, establishing different positions, the main ones of them Port Clarence (now Malabo) and San Carlos. Juan José Lerena and Barry in March 1843, he added the Spanish pavilion in Malabo, ending the British influence. Spain actively resumed the colonization of Guinea in the early twentieth century. In 1926 the island joined the colony of Spanish Guinea.

• Elobey, Annobón and Corisco: it was a Spanish colony in Africa, which consisted of the islands of Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico, and Corisco (in the estuary of the river Muni), and Annobón (in the southwest, beyond Sao Tome). It had a total area of 36 km2 and an estimated population of 1910 of 2950. The capital was the small but very active and populated island of Elobey Chico, later passed to Santa Isabel. In 1926 this colony, together with those of Fernando Poo and Rio Muni, unified to form the Spanish Guinea.

Spanish territories on the African continent today

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are an Atlantic archipelago located in the northwest of Africa that also currently forms one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. The archipelago is made up of eight islands: El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma and Tenerife (which form the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife), and Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa (which form the province of Las Palmas), in addition to five islets, which are called Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste.

The Canary Islands were inhabited before the European conquest by the Canary Islands Aborigines. In the 14th century the rediscovery of the islands occurred. There were numerous visits from Mallorcans, Portuguese and Genoese.

With papal permission and the support of the Castilian crown, several expeditions were organized in search of slaves, skins and dyes. In 1402 the conquest of the islands began with the expedition to Lanzarote of the Normans Jean de Bethencourt and Gadifer de la Salle, subject to the vassalage of the Crown of Castile and with the support of the Holy See. The conquest did not end until 1496, when former leaders signed their surrender, some natives of Tenerife surrendered and the Canary Islands were incorporated into the Castilian crown, thus entering a colonial stage.

The conquest of the Canary Islands, which took almost a hundred years, is the precedent for the conquest of the new world. The islands become a stopover point for trade routes with America, Africa and India (the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma will become one of the most important in the Spanish Empire), which brings great prosperity to certain social sectors of the islands, but the crises of monocultures in the XVIII century and, later, the independence of the American colonies in the 19th century, they caused deep recessions.

During the 19th century and the first half of the XX, as a result of the economic crises suffered by the archipelago, a series of migratory movements take place whose destination is, mainly, the American continent. At the beginning of the 20th century a new monoculture, the banana, was introduced to the Canary Islands by the English.

The so-called insular dispute, the rivalry between the elites of the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas (today Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) for the capital of the islands, which was In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, he managed to achieve the division of the archipelago into two provinces in 1927.

After the establishment of a democratic parliamentary monarchy regime, the creation of a statute of autonomy for the archipelago was proposed, a statute that was approved in 1982.

Ceuta

Ceuta is a Spanish city in North Africa, with political status as an autonomous city, located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the Strait of Gibraltar. It has a border with Morocco on its land limit. This country has claimed its annexation as part of its territory due to its geographical proximity, along with Melilla and other smaller Spanish territories in North Africa. The Government of Spain has never established negotiations, since it has been an integral part of the Kingdom of Spain since the XVI century, before the existence of the Kingdom of Morocco.

On August 21, 1415, the King of Portugal John I, with his sons Edward, Peter and Henry the Navigator landed on the current beaches of San Amaro and conquered the city for the Kingdom of Portugal. After a treaty with the Kingdom of Fez, it recognizes Ceuta as Portuguese. The city was recognized as Portuguese by the Treaty of Tordesillas.

After the death of King Sebastian of Portugal, the kingdom of Portugal was incorporated into the Hispanic Monarchy. In 1640 Ceuta did not follow Portugal in its secession, preferring to remain under the sovereignty of Philip IV. In 1656, the city was granted a Charter of Nature and added the title of Fidelísima to those it already held of Noble and Loyal.

In 1668 a Treaty with Portugal recognized Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and its jurisdiction (Perejil Island).

Did you mean:

En 1956 se le concede la independencia del Protectorado español de Marruecos sirviendo de base de repliegue de las fuerzas allí destinadas.

In 1978 the Spanish Constitution, which like other previous ones, recognized it as a component territory of the Spanish nation, integrating it into the new model of territorial organization, with the provision of the possibility of becoming an Autonomous Community.

Did you mean:

En 1995 se promulgó el Estatuto de Autonomía de Ceuta, constituyéndose en ciudad autónoma junto con Melilla.

Melilla

Melilla is an autonomous city of Spain located in North Africa, in the eastern part of Cape Tres Forcas, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Morocco off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Melilla was conquered for the Crown of Castile in 1497 by an expedition sponsored by the Duke of Medina Sidonia commanded by Pedro de Estopiñán, at a time of conflict in the marine waters that separate Spain from North Africa, after the taking of Grenade.

Morocco claims the city, as it does with Ceuta, which it considers an integral part of Moroccan territory. The Government of Spain has never held any type of negotiation in this regard nor has it expressed on any occasion its intention to do so.

Places of sovereignty

The group of islands, islets and rocks under Spanish power located in North Africa are called places of sovereignty. These are the Alhucemas Islands, the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the Chafarinas Islands, which mostly serve purely military purposes, except for those mentioned last, which are protected under the form of National Hunting Refuge. i> and are directly governed by the central administration of the state.

Morocco also claims these possessions, as do the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Although the Government of Spain in recent statements has reiterated their Spanishness and declined any type of negotiation to change their status.