Emilio_Bonelli
Emilio Bonelli
Spanish military officer
Don Emilio Bonelli y Hernando (7 November 1854 in Zaragoza, Aragon – 28 November 1926 in Madrid[1]) was a Spanish military officer, author, explorer, colonial administrator and Africanist.
Emilio Bonelli y Hernando | |
|---|---|
Bonelli depicted in La Ilustración Española y Americana, 8 April 1885. | |
| Born | (1854-11-07)November 7, 1854 Zaragoza, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died | November 28, 1926(1926-11-28) (aged 72) Madrid, Kingdom of Spain |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Spain |
| Service/ | Spanish Army |
| Years of service | 1875–1882 |
Bonelli entered the Spanish Army in 1875 and attended the Toledo Infantry Academy, achieving the rank of ensign in 1878.[2] He left the Army in 1882, and undertook an expedition through the interior of Morocco, crossing the territory between Fez, Meknes and Tangier.[3]
In 1884, Bonelli commanded an expedition to take the territory of Río de Oro (Oued Edhahab),[4] occupying the Atlantic coast between Cape Bojador (Ras Bujadur) and Cape Blanco (Ras Nouadhibou)[5] and founding Villa Cisneros (Dakhla).[4] On 26 December 1884, the Kingdom of Spain declared 'a protectorate of the African coast', and on 14 January 1885 officially informed the other great powers in writing,[6] thereby establishing Spanish Sahara. In July 1885, Bonelli was appointed by King Alfonso XII to the newly created position of Royal Commissioner on the West Coast of Africa[7] (which would later be renamed as Political and Military Subgovernor of Río de Oro),[8] managing to establish peace with tribes in the area.[9]
In 1913, Bonelli was a founding member of the Liga Africanista Española [es], of which he was vice president.[10]
Bonelli was the author of:[2]
- El imperio de Marruecos y su constitución (1882)
- El Sahara (1887)
- Nuevos territorios españoles en África (1887)
- El problema de Marruecos (1910)
- Ramírez Verdún 2005, p. 109.
- Fernández Rodríguez 1985, p. 171.
- Salom 2003, p. 269.
- Robert Rézette, The Western Sahara and the Frontiers of Morocco (Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 1975), p. 60.
- Real decreto nombrando Comisario regio en la costa occidental de Africa á D. Emilio Bonelli (PDF) (in Spanish). Gaceta de Madrid núm. 196 de 15 de julio de 1885. p. 141.
- Fernández Rodríguez 1985, p. 173.
- Salom 2003, p. 271.
- Blanco Vázquez, Luis (2012). Vestigios del pasado colonial español en Río de Oro (Sáhara Occidental). La línea de Fortines de Villa Cisneros (PDF). Hispania Nova: Revista de historia contemporánea (in Spanish). Getafe: Charles III University of Madrid. ISSN 1138-7319.
- Fernández Rodríguez, Manuel (1985). España y Marruecos en los primeros años de la Restauración (1875–1894) (in Spanish). Madrid: CSIC; Centro de Estudios Históricos. ISBN 84-00-06113-6.
- Ramírez Verdún, Pedro (2005). Emilio Bonelli Hernando. Teniente Coronel de Infantería. Ejército: de tierra español (in Spanish). p. 109. ISSN 1696-7178.
- Salom, Julio (2003). Los orígenes coloniales del Sahara occidental en el marco de la política española. Cuadernos de historia contemporánea (in Spanish). Madrid: Servicio de Publicaciones (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). pp. 247–272. ISSN 0214-400X.