It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people.

[3] 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.

[5] 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.

[8] 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.