RIF

also called Rif Mountains, Arabic Er-Rif, mountain range of northern Morocco, extending from Tanger (Tangier) to the Moulouya River valley near the Moroccan-Algerian frontier. For the greater part of its 180-mile (290-kilometre) length, the range hugs the Mediterranean Sea, leaving only a few narrow coastal valleys suitable for agriculture or urban settlement. The higher peaks, including Mount Tidirhine, which at 8,059 feet (2,456 m) is the loftiest, are snowcapped in winter. Although the mountains are highly mineralized, only iron ore is mined on a large scale. Attracted to the region's ruggedness and remoteness, Berber tribes led by Abd el-Krim (18821963) resisted Franco-Spanish occupation there in the 1920s. Since Moroccan independence in 1956, communications across the Rif have been improved with a summit road and the Route de l'Unit (from Fs to Ktama). also spelled Riff, or Riffi, any of the Berber tribes occupying a part of northeastern Morocco known as the Rif, an Arabic word meaning edge of cultivated area. The Rif are divided into 19 tribes: 5 in the west along the Mediterranean coast, 7 in the centre, 5 in the east, and 2 in the southeastern desert area. One central tribe is Arabic-speaking, as are sections of the five western tribes. The others speak Rif, a regionally variable Berber language. Many also speak Spanish and Arabic. The Rif are Muslims. The land of the Rif is a combination of mountains, rolling fields, and deserts, bordered by two rivers and 145 miles (233 km) of coastline. Their material culture is based on cultivation, herding, and sardine-seining. Before their loss of independence in 1926 (see Rif War), the Rif were organized by kinship and residence into graded units. Each unit elected or appointed a council of men who were renowned fighters.