<P> In 1975, Morocco occupied much of the territory, but the Polisario Front, promoting the sovereignty of an independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), fought a guerrilla war for 16 years against Morocco . In 1991, the UN negotiated a ceasefire and has tried to arrange negotiations and a referendum to let the population vote on its future . Morocco controls the entire Atlantic coast and most of the landmass, population and natural resources of Western Sahara . </P> <P> Before and during the Spanish occupation (1884--1975), the territory was inhabited by Saharan Arabs who lived in many oases and coastal villages . They worked mainly in fishing and camel herding . They speak the Hassaniya language, a Bedouin Arabic dialect . There is some dispute and ambiguity about whether the territory was under Moroccan royal sovereignty at the time when the Spanish claimed it in 1884 . </P> <P> During the Berlin Conference, where the European powers were establishing the rules for setting up zones of influence or protection in Africa, Spain declared' a protectorate of the African coast' from Cape Blanc to Cape Bojador on 26 December 1884 . It officially informed the other powers in writing on 14 January 1885 . It began establishing trading posts and a military presence . In July 1885, King Alfonso XII appointed Emilio Bonelli as commissioner of the Río de Oro with civil and military authority . On 6 April 1887, the area was incorporated into the Captaincy General of the Canary Islands for military purposes . In the summer of 1886, under the sponsorship of the Spanish Society of Commercial Geography (Sociedad Española de Geografía Comercial), Julio Cervera Baviera, Felipe Rizzo (1823--1908) and Francisco Quiroga (1853--1894) traversed the colony, which was called Río de Oro, and made topographical and astronomical observations . At the time, geographers had not mapped the territory and its features were not widely known . Their trek is considered the first scientific expedition in that part of the Sahara . In 1886, Spain signed the Treaty of Idjil, by which the Emirate of Adrar ceded the land of the colony to Spain . This treaty was of no legal value, since the Emir of Adrar had no claim to the territory, but since Morocco had no claim either (at least since the Hispano - Moroccan Treaty of 1767), the Spanish' invented' a claim which Adrar could, with no harm to itself, immediately cede . </P> <P> The borders of the territory were not clearly defined until treaties between Spain and France in the early 20th century . Spanish Sahara was created from the Spanish territories of Río de Oro and Saguia el - Hamra in 1924 . It was not part of the areas known as Spanish Morocco and was administered separately from them . </P>

Where were the first spanish colonies located in the new world brainly
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