The Rif is the mountainous region of northern Morocco, running from the Strait of Gibraltar east to the Moulouya valley. Its population speaks Tarifit, a northern Tamazight variety distinct from Tachelhit and from Central Tamazight, with several internal variants.
The Republic of the Rif, declared in 1921 under Muhammad ibn Abd el-Krim al-Khattabi, briefly defeated the Spanish colonial army at the Battle of Annual before being crushed in 1926 by a combined Spanish and French campaign that included the use of chemical weapons. The republic remains a foundational reference in Rifian and broader Amazigh political memory.
Under Mohammed V and Hassan II the region was kept on the margin of national investment for decades, a treatment widely understood locally as collective punishment. The Hirak of 2016 to 2017, sparked by the death of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri in the back of a refuse truck in Al Hoceima, mobilised the cities of the central Rif against unemployment, neglect, and the absence of basic services. The movement was suppressed, with several leaders sentenced to long prison terms.
The principal cities are Al Hoceima, Nador, Tetouan, and Chefchaouen. The economy combines fishing, kif cultivation in the central Rif, agriculture in the Atlantic-facing valleys, and remittances from a large diaspora in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.