History : The first grammar book for Riffian Tamazight was written by a Spanish missionary

By the end of the 19th century, Spanish religious men in Morocco started to show interest in learning the Amazigh language, especially in the Rif region. The best example in this case is Pedro Hilarion Sarrionandia, a Franciscan priest who traveled to Morocco in an African mission. During his twenty-year stay in the Kingdom, he wrote a grammatical book for the Riffian language and a Spanish-Riffian dictionary.