Rif

Geologically, the Rif Mountains belong to the Gibraltar Arc or Alborán Sea geological region. They are an extension of the Baetic System, which includes the mountains of the southern Iberian Peninsula across the strait.{{Cite thesis|last=Davis|first=Dan|title=Dissertation (Univ. of Texas at Austin): Commercial Navigation in the Greek and Roman World|url=https://www.academia.edu/2955208|language=en}} Thus, the Rif Mountains are not part of the Atlas Mountain System.

Major cities in the greater Rif region include Nador, Al Hoceima (also called Villa), Imzouren, Driouch, Ben Taieb, Midar and Al Aaroui and a few (small) towns: Segangan, Selwan, Ajdir and Targuist (Targist).

The Rif has been inhabited by Berbers since prehistoric times.Mário Curtis Giordani, História da África. Anterior aos descobrimentos. Editora Vozes, Petrópolis (Brasil) 1985, pp. 42f., 77f. Giordani references Bousquet, Les Berbères (Paris 1961). As early as the 11th century BC, the Phoenicians began to establish trading posts with the approval of or partnership with the local Berbers; had started interbreeding and creating a Punic language on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts; and had founded cities such as Tetouan, Rusadir (now Melilla) and (in the 5th century BC) Tingi (now Tangier).

After the Third Punic War, the coast of North Africa came under the control of Rome, and the Rif became part of the Kingdom of Mauretania. When Mauretania was divided during the rule of Emperor Claudius, Tangier became the capital of Mauretania Tingitana.{{sfn|Le Bohec|2015|p=443}} In the 5th century AD, the Roman rule came to an end, and the region was later reconquered and partly controlled by the Byzantine Empire.{{Harvnb|Evans|2005|p=xxv}}.

In 710, Salih I ibn Mansur founded the Emirate of Nekor in the Rif, and Berbers started converting to Islam. By the 15th century, many Moors were exiled from Spain, and most of them settled in Western Rif and brought their culture, such as Andalusian music, and even established the city of Chefchaouen. Since then, the Rif has suffered numerous battles with Spain and Portugal. In 1415, Portugal invaded Ceuta, and in 1490 Spain conquered Melilla.{{Sfn|López de Coca Castañer|1998|p=351}}{{Sfn|Bravo Nieto|1990|pp=15; 24}}

The Hispano-Moroccan War broke out in 1859 in Tetouan, and Morocco was defeated.{{Sfn|Fernández-Rivero|2011|pp=470–471}} The Spanish-Moroccan conflicts continued in the 20th century, under the leadership of Abd el-Krim, the Berber guerrilla leader who proclaimed the Republic of the Rif in 1921.David S. Woolman, Rebels in the Rif: Abd El Krim and the Rif Rebellion (Stanford University Press, 1968), p. 96 The Riffian Berbers won several victories over the Spanish in the Rif War in the 1920s before they were eventually defeated; the war saw extensive use of chemical weapons by Spanish forces.{{cite journal |last1=Entelis |first1=John P. |date=9 March 2017 |title=La Guerre du Rif: Maroc (1925–1926) |journal=The Journal of North African Studies |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=500–503 |doi=10.1080/13629387.2017.1300383 |s2cid=151998348}} The Spanish region was decolonised and restored to Morocco by Spain in April 1956, a month after the French region gained its independence from France.{{cite web |last=Burns |first=Jennifer |title=Revolution of the King and the People in Morocco, 1950–1959: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files |url=http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/archives-unbound-the-king-and-the-people-in-morocco-1950-1959-u.s.-state-department-records-on-the-internal-affairs-of-morocco/ |access-date=28 October 2016}} Shortly afterward, a revolt broke out in the north against the Moroccan king by Riffian insurgents in 1958, but it was easily suppressed.{{Cite book |last=Leveau |first=Rémy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UW9yAAAAMAAJ |title=Le fellah marocain, défenseur du trône |date=1985 |publisher=Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques |isbn=978-2-7246-0509-9 |pages=111 |language=fr}}

{{main|Cannabis in Morocco}}

Farmers in the Rif produce most of Morocco's supply of cannabis. The region is economically underdeveloped.{{Cite news| issn = 0013-0613| title = Morocco moves to legalise some cannabis cultivation| newspaper = The Economist| date = 2021-07-10|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/07/10/morocco-moves-to-legalise-some-cannabis-cultivation}}

File:RifMountainsInTheChefchaouenProvince.jpg

File:20141218 - Marocco Mediterrane Coast (West Side) - Air Photo by sebaso.jpg to Tétouan with Rif mountains, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (2014)]]

According to C. Michael Hogan, there are between five and eight separate subpopulations of the endangered primate Barbary macaque, Macaca sylvanus.C. Michael Hogan, 2008 The Rif mountains are also home to the honey bee subspecies Apis mellifera major.

The Rif region receives more rainfall than any other region in Morocco, with some portions receiving upwards of {{convert|2000|mm|2|abbr=on}} of precipitation a year.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} The western and central portions are more rainy and are covered in forests of Atlas cedar, cork oak and holm oak, as well as the only remaining forests of Moroccan fir, a subspecies of the Spanish fir.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} The eastern slopes receive less rainfall, and there forests consist mainly of pines, particularly the Aleppo pine and the maritime pine, as well as tetraclinis.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}

Massive deforestation due to overgrazing, forest fires, and forest clearing for agriculture, particularly for the creation of cannabis plantations, has taken place since the 1950s. This deforestation has led to soil degradation due to the washing away of topsoil, which has aggravated the process.{{Cite journal |title=Spatio-temporal analysis and identification of deforestation hotspots in the Moroccan western Rif |year=2023 |doi=10.1016/j.tfp.2023.100388 |last1=Boubekraoui |first1=Hamid |last2=Maouni |first2=Yazid |last3=Ghallab |first3=Abdelilah |last4=Draoui |first4=Mohamed |last5=Maouni |first5=Abdelfettah |journal=Trees, Forests and People |volume=12 |page=100388 |doi-access=free }}

The Rif is home to tribal people belonging to different tribes which are usually subdivided in even smaller groups. Following is a list of tribes:{{Cite book |last=Coon |first=Charleton S. |author-link=Carleton S. Coon |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020847656&view=1up&seq=38&q1=eighteen |title=Tribes of the Rif |publisher=University of Harvard |year=1931 |series=Harvard African studies.v. 9 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=4 |language=en |hdl=2027/mdp.39015020847656 |hdl-access=free}}

• Gzenaya
• Ait Waryaghar
• Ait Amart
• Ait Touzine
• Ait Temsaman
• Ait Ulishk
• Ait Tafersit
• Ait Said
• Kebdana
• Targuist
• Bokoya
• Ait Itteft
• Ait Boufrah
• Ait Hadifa

• Ghomaras
• Hirak Rif
• Iznasen
• Nekor
• Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima
• Oriental (Morocco)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite journal|title=La ocupación de Melilla en 1497 y las relaciones entre los Reyes Católicos y el duque de Medina Sidonia|first=Antonio|last=Bravo Nieto|journal=Aldaba|year=1990|issue=15 |publisher=Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia|issn=0213-7925|location=Melilla|pages=15–38|doi=10.5944/aldaba.15.1990.20168 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |doi-access=free}}
• Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy (2005). [http://geopium.org/?p=276 "Morocco said to produce nearly half of the world's hashish supply"], Jane's Intelligence Review
• {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=James Allan Stewart |title=The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire |publisher=Greenwood |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-313-32582-3 |location=Westport}}
• {{Cite book|url=http://eprints.rclis.org/16861/1/Enrique%20Fazio%20en%20la%20Guerra%20Africa.pdf|last=Fernández-Rivero|first=Juan-Antonio|chapter=La fotografía militar en la guerra de África: Enrique Facio|title=Ceuta y la Guerra de África de 1859–1860|location=Ceuta|year=2011|pages=459–492|publisher= Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes|isbn=978-84-92627-30-1}}
• C. Michael Hogan (2008). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120419033431/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=31757&lang=us "Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus"], Globaltwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Hoyos |editor1-first=Dexter |first=Yann |last=Le Bohec |chapter= The "Third Punic War": The Siege of Carthage (148–146 BC) |date=2015 |orig-year=2011 |title=A Companion to the Punic Wars |location=Chichester, West Sussex |publisher=John Wiley |pages=430–446 |isbn=978-1-1190-2550-4 |author-link=Yann Le Bohec}}
• {{Cite journal|title=Granada y la expansión portuguesa en el Magreb extremo|first=José Enrique|last=López de Coca Castañer|journal=Historia. Instituciones. Documentos|issn=0210-7716|issue=25|year=1998|pages=351–368|publisher=Universidad de Sevilla|location=Seville|doi=10.12795/hid.1998.i25.018 |s2cid=252936676 |doi-access=free}}

{{commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121120043854/http://www.fadma.be/galeries/arrif Galerie Rif (Arrif)] {{in lang|fr}}
• [http://weecheng.com/morocco/chef/map-rif.gif Rif Map]

{{Major African geological formations}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Al Hoceïma Province

Category:Berber history

Category:Geography of Fès-Meknès

Category:Geography of Oriental (Morocco)

Category:Geography of Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima

Category:Historical geography of Morocco

Category:Historical regions

Category:Mountain ranges of Morocco