[1] In 1476, an enclave in the region of present-day Sidi Ifni was occupied by forces from the Spanish peninsula, which named its settlement there Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña.

Historically, Sidi Ifni is claimed to be the location of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, which had been long pursued by Spain, who built a small coastal fortress there in the 15th century.

Although the existence of the fortress is widely documented, historians could not determine its exact location along the coast between Agadir and Tarfaya.

At 06:30 a police force composed of some 8,000 agents entered the city, dispersed the protesters employing rubber bullets and reopened the port.

[3] On 7 June the Qatar-owned TV chain Al Jazeera stated that eight to ten people had been killed during the police intervention.

Amnesty International in 2009 reported "They [the Moroccan police] also conducted unauthorized raids on homes, confiscated property, verbally and sexually harassed people, and carried out arbitrary arrests and detentions.

"[4] The relations between the Moroccan government and Al Jazeera seriously deteriorated[2] and in July, Brahim Sbaalil, a spokesperson for the Islamist-leaning Centre Marocain des Droits Humain (CMDH) that had echoed the claims, was condemned to six months in prison for "spreading false accusations".

[5] To better utilise its ocean-shipping potential, Spanish authorities in the 1960s conceived and installed a unique ship-offloading system in the shallow waters of the Sidi Ifni port.

Cargo and personnel were lifted from a ship, then moved to another station near the cliffs east of town, using self-propelled carts slung from large steel cables.

[6] Influenced by the cold Canary Current, Sidi Ifni has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) with mild to warm weather all year round, and very slight, erratic rainfall.