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By the time that the ‘scramble for Africa’ by the European powers got seriously underway in the mid- to late-19th century, Spain’s glory days as a colonial power were long behind it.Its huge empire in the Americas was gone, with all of its former colonies having declared and gained independence in the first half of the 19th century. All that remained of its once vast overseas possessions by the end of the 19th century were Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, the Philippines in Eastern Asia (all of which were lost to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War (Guerra hispano-estadounidense) of 1898) and some islands scattered in the Pacific Ocean (namely, the Marianas and the Carolinas, which, if memory serves me correctly, were also lost to the US as a result of the same war). In addition, there were some possessions along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Africa, about which more anon.Whereas, for other maritime powers in Europe, most particularly the United Kingdom and France, the 19th century was a time of constant overseas expansion and additions to their colonial empires (sometimes for no other reason than to make sure that the ‘other one’ did not take over the territory in question), Spain began the 19th century engaged in Napoleon’s Peninsular Wars and the struggles with many of its American colonies for independence. Once the battle with the ex-colonies for independence was lost, Spain spent much of the remainder of the 19th century occupied with introspection and political in-fighting and intrigue over who was the legitimate ruler of Spain (basically, Carlists and Ferdinandists, fighting it out amongst themselves over which branch of the Bourbon dynasty should sit on the Spanish throne). Moreover, there was not the energy nor the capital to spare for new expansion overseas, whether in Africa or elsewhere: the American gold and silver were gone, having dissipated like melting snow over prior centuries. None of this made conditions favourable for any Spanish participation in the ‘scramble for Africa’ in the 19th century.Another reason why Spain never turned its attention to Africa - despite the latter’s proximity - is that, in the days when Spain had been a major overseas colonial power (so, from the 15th through to the 18th centuries), it had its hands already sufficiently full with its colonies in the Americas (the result of which is the fact that, today, there is an unbroken chain of officially Spanish-speaking republics stretching from the Río Grande in the North all the way to the tip of Tierra del Fuego in the South - that is a huge amount of territory). Moreover, in the era when Spanish exploration overseas was at its height, Spain had entered into a treaty with its then-archrival Portugal - the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 - to govern who would be entitled to possess which parts of the world as and when they were discovered (it being remembered that much of the world at that time had not yet been mapped or explored by Europeans). Among the spectacularly arrogant things (from the perspective of the 21st century) that the Treaty did - it being remembered that only two nations out of the entire world were party to this agreement - the Treaty drew a line around the globe (basically down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and through part of what is now Brazil) and stipulated that Spain would be entitled to the lands discovered West of that line, whilst Portugal would be entitled to the lands discovered East of that line. Africa lay to the East of the line established by the Treaty and, therefore, for as long as the Treaty remained valid between the two countries, was for Portugal to explore and claim, rather than Spain. This in turn led to the establishment by the Portuguese of major African colonies in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Guinea-Bissau, São Tomas and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique (Moçambique). Some of these colonies would remain under Portuguese rule for hundreds of years, until 1975.Notwithstanding the Treaty of Tordesillas, Spain had been active up and down the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Morocco - the part of Africa most adjacent to Spain - for centuries. One result of its transatlantic explorations in the late mediaeval period was the acquisition of the Canary Islands (Islas Canarias). Because of the fact that the Canaries are governed as an integral part of Spain (i.e., as a provincia and not as a colonia) and have a population of mostly European origin, we consider the islands to be European and tend to forget that, from a strictly geographic point of view, they are African. Spain does therefore ‘own’ part of the African continent (and has done so for many centuries), albeit an insular part of the continent and one which, for political and cultural reasons, we treat as European rather than African.Regarding the remainder of the Spanish interests on the African continent, these can be divided into two categories, namely:those which were acquired during the time of the formation of the modern Spanish state (so, between 1400 and 1600): these are collectively known as the plazas de soberanía (literally, the places of sovereignty); andthose which were acquired as part of Spain’s belated and limited participation in the ‘scramble for Africa’, so from about 1850 onwards.With respect to the plazas de soberanía, these are variously small enclaves of Spanish territory along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco or islands in the sea between Spain and Morocco (there were also once plazas de soberanía along the Atlantic coast, but their fate was bound up with that of Morocco proper and the Western Sahara, which will be dealt with in the succeeding paragraphs). In each case, they were acquired by the nascent Spanish state (or, in some cases, the nascent Portuguese state but later ceded to Spain), initially to provide protection for Spanish shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea or passing through the Straits of Gibraltar in either direction. The two most important plazas de soberanía are the towns of Ceuta and Melilla, on the North African mainland, but others are just islets or rocks in the sea, in some cases literally a stone’s throw away from the Moroccan shore. Like the Canary Islands, the plazas de soberanía are governed as an integral part of Spain. However, the plazas de soberanía are part of the European Union for the purposes of customs and excise, which is not the case with the Canary Islands.The plazas de soberanía play an important role in the relationship between Spain and Morocco, being a source of continuing tension between the two countries. At the present time, Spain refuses to renounce the plazas de soberanía on the basis that Spain has occupied them for hundreds of years and that its possession of the plazas de soberanía predates the formation of any modern Moroccan state. Morocco, for its part, runs a counterargument that is similar to Spain’s arguments with the United Kingdom to justify the handover of Gibraltar to Spain, namely that (i) Morocco requires the plazas de soberanía in order to protect the integrity of its national territory, (ii) the existence of the plazas de soberanía merely serves to encourage smuggling, tax evasion and other illegal activities, and (iii) the plazas de soberanía are an outdated hangover from the colonial era in a post-colonial world.For now (July 2018), both sides are maintaining the status quo as regards the plazas de soberanía. That is to say, Morocco has not given up its claims and Spain has not given up an inch of territory, but neither side is actively doing anything on the international stage to promote its position. The last such attempt was in 2002, when Morocco sent half a dozen gendarmes to occupy the Isla de Perejil (literally, Parsley Island), an uninhabited islet located two hundred and fifty metres from the Moroccan shoreline. After a few days, Spain sent its armed forces to the islet to evict the Moroccans, which they duly did. Since then, Spain has evacuated its forces from the islet, but not renounced its claim either, and so the Isla de Perejil remains as a tiny piece of Spanish (and European Union) territory lying cheek-by-jowl with the Moroccan coastline.Above: The Isla de Perejil, one of the plazas de soberanía claimed by Spain and disputed by Morocco: the coastline in the fore- and background of the photograph is in Morocco, and the uninhabited islet itself is in Spain, with 250 metres of sea separating the twoWith respect to the ‘scramble for Africa’, the three territories that Spain (mostly belatedly) acquired as part of this phenomenon in political history were:Spanish Sahara (el Sahará español), now the Western Sahara (el Sahará occidental) and claimed in its entirety by Morocco;the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco (el Protectorado español en Marruecos), now fully incorporated into the modern Moroccan state; andSpanish Guinea (la Guinea española), now independent as Equatorial Guinea (la Guinea ecuatorial).With respect to Spanish Sahara specifically, this grew out of the plaza de soberanía known as Villa Cisneros (now Al-Dakhla) on the Atlantic Coast, which had originally been founded by the Spaniards in the 1500’s as a station for their shipping. As part of the settlements among various European powers over the division of African territory in the last quarter of the 19th century, Spain was allowed to expand its area of governance further inland, resulting in the foundation of two colonies, Río de Oro (‘Gold River’) and Saguía al-Hamra (from the Arabic meaning the red aqueduct). These two colonies were later reorganised in the mid-20th century into a single entity, called Spanish Sahara. Whilst still under the dictatorship of General Franco, Spain came under pressure from the United Nations from the 1960’s onwards to decolonise Spanish Sahara. With the restoration of democracy in Spain in 1975, Spain evacuated its civilian administration and military forces from Spanish Sahara in 1976, with the territory being divided between Morocco and Mauritania (two-thirds to Morocco and once-third to Mauritania). When Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979, the entirety of the territory of the former Spanish Sahara came under Moroccan administration. Morocco claims the entirety of the territory of Western Sahara (as it is now known) as an integral part of its national territory, a claim that is disputed by the Saharawi independence movement. Perhaps because Western Sahara does not have any strategic importance in the current world order (except, of course, for Morocco), this is one international dispute that has existed for over forty years and shows no likelihood of resolution soon.With respect to Morocco itself, Morocco was the object of the attentions of a number of European powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to a number of diplomatic crises in that period (most notably between France and Germany). After French dominance in Morocco was established further to the Agadir Crisis of 1908, Spain was allocated two protectorate areas in 1912, one in the North (a strip of coastline on the Mediterranean called El-Rif, immediately facing Andalusia on the opposite shore) and one in the South (centred around Cape Juby, and contiguous which what would later become Spanish Sahara). There was also a separate plaza de soberanía on the Atlantic coast to the North of Cape Juby, called Ifni. Interestingly, it was from El-Rif in the northern protectorate that General Franco launched his military campaign in 1936: the Spanish Civil War began therefore in North Africa, rather than in the Iberian Peninsula. When France renounced its protectorate over the lion’s share of Morocco in 1956, the Spanish protectorates of El-Rif and Cape Juby also soon became part of the newly independent Kingdom of Morocco, in 1956 and 1958 respectively. The plaza de soberanía at Ifni also subsequently became part of the modern Moroccan state in 1968, but, as mentioned above, Spain still retains the plazas de soberanía along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, which forms a bone of contention between contemporary Spain and contemporary Morocco.With respect to Spanish Guinea, its association with Spain starts with the slave-trading by various European powers along the Guinea coast of Africa in the 1500’s. Territory-wise, it consists of an island in the Gulf of Guinea (discovered by the Portuguese and originally called Fernando Póo, now called Bioko), a further, smaller island in the Gulf called Annobón and a small square-shaped piece of territory on the African mainland, wedged between modern-day Cameroon and Gabon, and originally called Río Muni. Fernando Póo and Annobón were acquired by treaty from the Portuguese in the 1700’s, whilst Río Muni was allocated to Spain as part of a division of territory along the Guinea Coast among the European powers in the mid-19th century. Fernando Póo, Annobón and Río Muni were reorganised into the colony of Spanish Guinea in the 1920’s, which gained its independence from Spain in 1968 as Equitorial Guinea. Today, Equitorial Guinea is best-known as an exporter of oil, its oil reserves having been discovered and exploited from the 1990’s onwards.Although there are still some cultural and linguistic links between Spain and its former African territories (and, in some cases, direct transport links), it is fair to say that, with the exception of the Canary Islands and the remaining plazas de soberanía (both of which are governed and treated as an integral part of Spain), Spain is not engaged with Africa to the same extent that other ex-colonial powers such as France and the United Kingdom are. The reasons for this, to summarise the above, are as follows:in the age of exploration (and the first great expansion of the European presence overseas) between 1400 and 1600, concentration of Spanish efforts and resources on the Americas;the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, whereby Africa fell into the zone of possession of Portugal, rather than of Spain; andin the second great European expansion overseas in the 19th century, insufficient capital and political will after the Napoleonic Wars and the wars of independence with the American ex-colonies to participate in the ‘scramble for Africa’ to the same extent as other European states.

“Quando chegares a São Paulo eu já terei aterrado no Rio de Janeiro”

I was fortunate enough to visit Brazil in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, while Lula Da Silva was trying different strategies to reach the Presidency. I was told and read that what eventually allowed him to get elected was a softening of his hard PT leftist stance. The reason for that is because he would’ve been completely blocked by the large Brazilian private sector. In the end, although he was a Foro de Sao Paulo alum, his policies didn’t differ that much from his predecessor Cardoso.In Venezuela, we have never had a large private sector, especially compared to the State oil industry. So all presidential candidates had to do was to promise a better distribution of the waning oil wealth and if their credibility was good enough, people would vote for them. The problem was that Venezuela needed to produce more of other types of products and not simply rely on oil. But habits die hard and Hugo Chávez and Maduro just increased the terrible State-controlled economy that began in 1975 with the nationalization of the steel and oil industry.So, rest calm, drink a Caipirinha, play some Tom Jobin while you watch a Palmeiras vs Corintians match. The average “leftist” Brazilian politician is more pro-business than the average Venezuelan politician from “the right”.