'The Peninsula', Hassaniyya: [ˌəd.daːχlə] ⓘ; formerly known as Villa Cisneros) is a city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara,[2] currently occupied by Morocco.

Rio de Oro was settled in the twelfth century by the Oulad Delim, an Arab Bedouin tribe of South Arabian descent that emigrated from Yemen.

These fishing activities had a negative impact on wildlife, causing the disappearance or endangering of many species, particularly marine mammals and birds.

In 1881, a dock was anchored off the coast of the Río de Oro Peninsula to support the work of the Canarian fishing fleet.

[citation needed] However, it was not until 1884 that Spain formally founded the watering place as Villa Cisneros, in the settlement dated in 1502 by Papal bull.

[7] In 1884, the settlement of Villa Cisneros was promoted by the Spanish Society of Africanists and funded by the government of Canovas del Castillo.

A prison camp existed at the fort during the Spanish Civil War at which writers such as Pedro García Cabrera were imprisoned.

Between 1975 and 1979, Dakhla was the provincial capital of the Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya, as Mauritania annexed the southern portion of Western Sahara.

[citation needed] Dakhla was occupied by Spain from the late 19th century to 1975, when power was then relinquished to a joint administration between Morocco and Mauritania.

[21] The natural hot spring of Asmaa, located 36 km from the city of Dakhla, is also a very popular spot for tourists who come for its 38 °C thermal waters, sourced from a well about 700 meters deep.

Some of these are; pelican, great cormorant, gulls (slender-billed, Audouin's, black-backed), larks (sparrow, bar-tailed), terns (little, Caspian, royal, Sandwich), black wheatear, western reef heron, marsh harrier, sparrowhawk, lesser kestrel, laughing dove, great spotted cuckoo, little swift, hoopoe, rock martin, cricket longtail, oystercatcher, bar-tailed godwit, pharaoh eagle owl, and red-knobbed coot.

Several species such as golden nightjar, Sudan golden sparrow, hooded vulture, dark chanting goshawk, speckled pigeon, African mourning dove, blue-naped mousebird, Kordofan lark, red-chested swallow, chestnut-bellied starling, African swallow-tailed kite, tawny eagle, slender-billed curlew, demoiselle crane, Arabian bustard, ostrich, lappet-faced vulture, helmeted guineafowl are seemingly locally rare or extinct, or rather visitors of vagrants.

[33] On the other hand, monk seals are showing slow but certain recoveries and Ras Nouadhibou holds the world's most notable colony for this species.

[37][38][39] Other than mammals, limited varieties of terrestrial reptiles, amphibians, arthropods are present here including lizards, smooth snake, Brongersma's toad, and yellow-tailed scorpion.