Western Sahara
before 1884 		History of Northern Africa Spanish Sahara
1924-1939





Rio de Oro, 1884-1924



During the SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA, in 1884 Spain claimed the coastal stretch between Cape Bojador and Cape Blanc, calling the region RIO DE ORO (gold river). The border to (French-claimed) Mauritania was fixed in treaties with France in 1900 and 1904.
The Spanish established VILLA CISNEROS as the seat of administration. Large stretches of the interior long escaped Spanish authority, not established in some areas before the 1930es.
In 1924, the hitherto separately administrated regions of Rio de Oro and LA AGUERA were merged to form the Spanish Sahara. In 1948, the CAPE JUBY region (a stretch of land Spain gained in the partition of Morocco in 1911) was incorporated into the Spanish Sahara.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of the Western Sahara, from Infoplease
Spanish Sahara, from Sandafayre Stamp Atlas
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Article : Spain : Colonies : Rio de Oro and Adrar, in : Statesman's Year Book 1910 pp.1229-1230, 1918 p.1284, 1919 pp.1268-1269, 1924 pp.1302-1303 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on May 22nd 2001, last revised on September 15th 2008

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