[3][4] From the French invasion on 18 June 1830 to its independence, Algeria was administratively part of France; its ethnic European population were simply called Algerians or colons (colonists).

[6][5] During the Algerian War, a vast majority of pieds-noirs were loyalists and overwhelmingly supported colonial French rule in Algeria.

[4][7] The recent history of the pieds-noirs has been characterized by a sense of twofold alienation, on the one hand from the land of their birth and on the other from their adopted homeland.

[3] The Le Robert dictionary states that in 1901 the word indicated a sailor working barefoot in the coal room of a ship, who would find his feet blackened by the soot and dust.

[13] Other theories focus on new settlers dirtying their clothing by working in swampy areas, wearing black boots when on horseback, or trampling grapes to make wine.

[15] European settlement of Algeria began during the 1830s, after France had commenced the process of conquest with the military seizure of the city of Algiers in 1830.

[5] Large-scale regrouping of lands began when land-speculation companies took advantage of government policy that allowed massive sales of native property.

[4] In Metropolitan France, Algeria was considered an integral part of French national territory, and this sentiment was largely shared by the pied-noir community.

These two countries had been placed under protectorate, whereas Algeria and its population fell under territory status and were considered part of overseas France.

"[citation needed]As the colony of Algeria grew with each generation, pieds-noirs began to define themselves as distinct from the French citizens of metropolitan France; they identified as Algerian people.

'red feet') to refer to pied-noir members of the Algerian Communist Party or those who held left-wing beliefs, including a minority of pieds-noirs sympathetic to the independence movement.

[34] Like other white populations in colonial-era Africa, the pieds-noirs generally dominated much of Algeria's industrial, cultural and political institutions, comprising the most influential section of society.

However, French Algeria also attracted laborers, blue collar and agricultural workers from metropolitan France, Spain, Italy and Malta in search of better economic opportunities.

Following the exodus to France in the aftermath of the Algerian war, working-class pieds-noirs were particularly scathing in response to accusations from the French political left that they were exploiters or elite colonialists over the indigenous population.

Politically, the Muslim Algerians had no representation in the French National Assembly until 1945 and wielded limited influence in local governance.

[citation needed] In 1959, the pieds-noirs numbered 1,025,000, and accounted for 10.4% of the total population of Algeria, a percentage gradually diminishing since the peak of 15.2% in 1926.

[46] Mozabite Jews were excluded from the Crémieux Decree, and were only granted “common law civil status” and French citizenship in 1961.

From the first armed operations of November 1954, pied-noir civilians had always been targets for the FLN: they were assassinated in bombings of bars and cinemas; suffered mass massacres; and were tortured and sometimes raped on farms.

Plots to overthrow the Fourth Republic, some including metropolitan French politicians and generals, had been swirling in Algeria for some time.

[49] General Jacques Massu controlled the riot by forming a 'Committee of Public Safety', demanding that his acquaintance Charles de Gaulle be named president of the French Fourth Republic, to prevent the "abandonment of Algeria".

[37] Many French political and military leaders in Algeria viewed this as a betrayal and formed the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), which had much support among pieds-noirs.

After its failure, on 18 March 1962, de Gaulle and the FLN signed a cease-fire agreement, the Évian Accords, and held a referendum.

[38] On the morning of 5 July 1962, the day Algeria became independent, seven katibas (companies) of the FLN troops entered the city and were fired at by some Europeans.

All administration-, police-, school-, justice-, and commercial activities stopped within three months after many pieds-noirs were told to choose either "la valise ou le cercueil" (the suitcase or the coffin).

In contrast to the treatment of the European pieds-noirs, little effort was made by the French government to extend protection to the harkis or to arrange their organised evacuation.

[52] The Government of France claimed that it had not anticipated that such a massive number would leave; it believed that perhaps 300,000 might choose to depart temporarily and that a large portion would return to Algeria.

[4] Many pieds-noirs settled in continental France, while others migrated to New Caledonia,[53] Australia,[53] Spain,[54] Israel,[55] Argentina,[56][57] Italy, the United States and Canada.

[61] The American author Claire Messud remembered seeing her pied-noir father, a lapsed Catholic, crying while watching Pope John Paul II deliver a Mass on his TV.

[66] The pied-noir community has adopted, as both an unofficial anthem and as a symbol of its identity, Captain Félix Boyer's 1943 version of "Le Chant des Africains" (lit.

The French Minister of Veterans Affairs (Ministre des Anciens Combattants) at the time, Henri Duvillard, lifted the prohibition.