Founded by the Canary Islands
lord Diego de Herrera in 1478 as a trading and fishing post with a fortress. It was located close to a
mouth bar (hence its name) across
Lanzarote. The importance of the settlement was derived from its position in the
trans-Saharan slave trade, and captives were shipped to sugar plantations on the Canary Islands. The
Saadi dynasty raided the place and the
Spanish eventually left Santa Cruz, being completely abandoned by 1524. The exact location of what used to be Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña was forgotten. After the
Treaty Between France and Spain Regarding Morocco (1912), in 1916 the Spanish gained control of the
Cape Juby Strip which included the place. It was renamed officially Puerto Cansado, as that was the name given by the Canarian fishermen. On the other hand, in the mid-nineteenth century, after the
Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–1860), the Sultanate of Morocco agreed to hand the place (of uncertain location) to Spain in the 1860
Treaty of Wad Ras. In the wake of the visit of a Spanish delegation to Fez in 1877, a joint Hispano-Moroccan committee was created in order to determine the location of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña. == Description ==