Ifni

Ifni was a small Spanish possession on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and opposite the Canary Islands. Spain based its claim on the medieval fortress of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, founded in 1476 and later abandoned, and used it as a pretext for war with Morocco in 1859. By the Treaty of Wad Ras in April 1860 the Sultan ceded the territory around Sidi Ifni to Spain, but Madrid showed little interest for decades. Spanish forces did not occupy the area until April 1934, when Colonel Osvaldo Capaz landed at Sidi Ifni and took possession on behalf of the Second Spanish Republic. The settlement grew rapidly, with an airport that became an important stopover on routes between Spain and the Canaries, and in 1938 Iberia opened a commercial service linking Seville, Larache, Sidi Ifni, Cape Juby and Gando. Ifni was administered as part of Spanish Sahara and became a separate province in 1958. Morocco claimed the territory after independence, and guerrilla attacks in 1957 and 1958 increased pressure on Spain, which finally retroceded Ifni in June 1969. The town of Sidi Ifni remains the administrative centre of a larger Moroccan province of the same name.