Editing Sahrawis (section)

=== European colonialism ===
Modern distinctions drawn between the various [[Hassaniya Arabic|Hassaniya]]-speaking Sahrawi-[[Moors|Moorish]] groups are primarily political, but cultural differences dating from different colonial and post-colonial histories are also apparent. An important divider is whether the tribal confederations fell under French or Spanish colonial rule. France conquered most of North and West Africa largely during the late 19th century. This included Algeria and Mauritania, and, from 1912, Morocco. But Western Sahara and scattered minor parts of Morocco fell to Spain, and were named [[Spanish Sahara]] (subdivided into [[Río de Oro]] and [[Saguia el-Hamra]]) and [[Spanish Morocco]] respectively. These colonial intrusions brought the Muslim Saharan peoples under Christian European rule for the first time, and created lasting cultural and political divides between and within existing populations, as well as upsetting traditional balances of power in differing ways.

The Sahrawi-Moorish areas, then still undefined as to exact territorial boundaries, proved troublesome for the colonizers, just as they had for neighbouring dynasties in previous centuries. The political loyalty of these populations were first and foremost to their respective tribes, and supertribal allegiances and alliances would shift rapidly and unexpectedly. Their nomadic lifestyle made direct control over the territories hard to achieve, as did general lawlessness, an absence of prior central authority, and a widely held contempt for the kind of settled life that the colonizers sought to bring about. Centuries of intertribal warfare and raids for loot (''ghazzu'') guaranteed that the populations were well armed and versed in guerilla-style warfare. Tribes allied to hostile European powers would now also be considered fair game for cattle raids on those grounds, which tied the struggle against France and Spain into the traditional power play of the nomads, aggravating the internal struggles.

Uprisings and violent tribal clashes therefore took place with increasing frequency as European encroachment increased, and on occasion took the form of anti-colonial holy war, or [[Jihad]], as in the case of the [[Ma al-'Aynayn]] uprising in the first years of the 20th century. It was not until the 1930s that Spain was able to finally subdue the interior of present-day [[Western Sahara]], and then only with strong French military assistance. Mauritania's raiding Moors had been brought under control in the previous decades, partly through skilful exploitation by the French of traditional rivalries and social divisions between the tribes. In these encounters, the large [[Reguibat tribe]] proved especially resistant to the new rulers, and its fighters would regularly slip in out of French and Spanish territory, similarly exploiting the rivalries between European powers. The last major Reguibat raid took place in 1934, after which the Spanish authorities occupied [[Smara]], finally gaining control over the last unpatrolled border territories.

The Sahrawi-Moorish tribes remained largely nomadic until the early to mid-20th century, when Franco-Spanish rivalries (as well as disagreements between different wings of the French colonial regime) managed to impose rigid, if arbitrary, borders on the previously fluid Sahara. The wide-ranging grazing lands of the nomads were split apart, and their traditional economies, based on trans-Saharan caravan trade and raiding of each other and the northern and southern Sahel neighbors, were broken. Little attention was paid to existing tribal confederations and zones of influence when dividing up the Saharan interior.

====Different colonial practices====
French and Spanish colonial governments would gradually, and with varying force, impose their own systems of government and education over these territories, exposing the native populations to differing colonial experiences. The populations in [[Algeria]] were subjected to direct French rule, which was organized to enable the massive settlement of French and European immigrants. In Mauritania, they experienced a French non-settler colonial administration which, if light in its demands on the nomads, also deliberately overturned the existing social order, allying itself with lower-ranking [[marabout]] and [[Zenaga people|zenaga]] tribes against the powerful warrior clans of the [[Hassane]] Arabs. In southern Morocco, France upheld indirect rule through the [[Sultan of Morocco|sultanate]] in some areas, while [[Spain]] exercised direct administration in others. [[Spanish Sahara]] was treated first as a colony, and later as an overseas province, with gradually tightening political conditions, and, in later years, a rapid influx of Spanish settlers (making [[Spaniards]] about 20% of the population in 1975). By the time of decolonization in 1950s–1970s, Sahrawi tribes in all these different territories had experienced roughly a generation or more of distinct experiences; often, however, their nomadic lifestyle had guaranteed that they were subjected to less interference than what sedentary populations experienced in the same areas.

====Debate on pre-colonial allegiances====
The period of colonization radically changed existing power structures, leaving a confused legacy of contradictory political affiliations, European-drawn borders with little resemblance to ethnic and tribal realities, and the foundations of modern political conflict.

For example, both sides in the [[Western Sahara conflict]] (Morocco vs. the [[Polisario Front]]) draw heavily on colonial history to prove their version of reality. Proponents of the [[Greater Morocco]] ideology point to some Sahrawi tribes calling upon the Moroccan sultan, who until 1912 remained the last independent Islamic ruler of the area, for assistance against the Europeans (see [[Ma al-'Aynayn]]). Pro-independence Sahrawis, on the other hand, point out that such statements of allegiance were almost routinely given by various tribal leaders to create short-term alliances, and that other heads of tribes indeed similarly proclaimed allegiance to Spain, to France, to Mauritanian emirates, and indeed to each other; they argue that such arrangements always proved temporary, and that the tribal confederations always maintained ''de facto'' independence of central authority, and would even fight to maintain this independence.

The [[International Court of Justice]] issued a [[International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara|ruling]] on the matter in 1975, stating that there ''had'' existed ties between the Moroccan sultan and some (mainly northerly [[Tekna]]) tribes in then-Spanish Sahara, but that these ties were ''not'' sufficient to abrogate [[Western Sahara|Western Sahara's]] right to self-determination. The same kind of ruling was issued with regard to [[Mauritania]], where the court found that there were indeed strong tribal and cultural links between the Sahrawis and [[Mauritania]]n populations, including historical allegiance to some Moorish emirates, but that these were not ties of a state or government character, and did not constitute formal bonds of sovereignty. Thus, the court recommended the United Nations to continue to pursue self-determination for the Sahrawis, enabling them to choose for themselves whether they wanted Spanish Sahara to turn into an independent state, or to be annexed to Morocco or Mauritania.