Ifni

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Ifni was a Spanish province on the African coast in what is now Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands.

It had a total area of 1,502 km² (580 sq mi), and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing.

Spain's presence in the area can be traced to a settlement called Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña, founded in 1476, whose importance was derived from its position as a center for the trans-Saharan slave trade, and captives were shipped to sugar plantations on the Canary Islands. The Spanish were expelled from the area in 1524 by the Berbers.

After its abandonment, the exact location of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña was unknown. It was only until the mid-nineteenth century, during the Scramble for Africa, when France and Spain laid conflicting claims over the Maghreb, that Spain became interested in its lost medieval fortress in order to claim the southern part of Morocco. Ifni was considered the most likely area. The territory and its main town, Sidi Ifni, were ceded to Spain by Morocco on October 22, 1859 following a short war, but there was little Spanish presence until 1934, when the governor-general of Spanish Sahara took up residence. During Franco's dictatorship, the colony was made a province to stop UN criticism on decolonization. Spain returned Ifni to Morocco on January 4, 1969.

[edit] Postage stamps

Spain began issuing postage stamps for Ifni in 1941, initially overprinting Spanish stamps with "TERRITORIO DE IFNI", then issuing new designs in 1943. Issues followed at the rate of about 10/year, the last on November 23, 1968. Most are commonly available, but far more often seem unused, raising suspicion that the stamps were primarily issued to make money from stamp collectors, rather than to cope with a flood of mail from the residents.