Editing Sahrawis (section)

====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.