Pieds-noirs

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The Pieds-Noirs (French pronunciation: [pje nwaʁ]; lit. 'black feet'; sing.: Pied-Noir) are an ethno-cultural group of people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962. Many of them departed for mainland France during and after the Algerian War of Independence. From the French conquest on 18 June 1830 to its independence, Algeria was administratively part of France; its ethnic European population were simply called Algerians or colons (colonists). The Muslim people of Algeria were called Arabs, Berbers (Amazighs), Touregs, Muslims or indigènes. The term pied-noir came into common use shortly before the end of the Algerian War in 1962. As of the last census in French-ruled Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1,050,000 non-Muslim civilians, some 10 percent of the population. Most pieds-noirs were Catholic and of European descent, but their population included around 130,000 indigenous Algerian Jews who were granted...

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