[xvii] The transliteration of North African proper names and place names in this book has posed some special problems. The Spanish and French transliterations found in the historical literature to date did not seem appropriate for English readers; on the other hand, well-established English forms of these names do not exist in many cases. The method I have followed is a compromise. Arabic terms and proper names have generally been given English transliterations according to a modified Library of Congress system in which most special diacritics have been eliminated, with the exception of ain (rendered by ) and hamza, indicated by an apostrophe where it appears in the middle of a word. The Library of Congress makes an exception for the name of the Riffian leader Abd el-Krim, who is better known by the French and Spanish versions of his name than by the classical Arabic Abd al-Karim. I have followed their practice in this account. In addition, North African place-names have been given the spelling conventional on Spanish maps of northern Morocco in those cases where no well-established English form exists, in order to avoid unnecessary confusion in the historical account.

Except where otherwise indicated, all translations in the text are my own. Where English usage demands, Spanish place-names have been anglicized and the accents have been omitted.