Pied-Noir Totally Explained

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Pied-Noir ("Black-Foot"), plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced /pje.nwaʁ/, is a term used to refer to colonists of Algeria until the end of the Algerian War in 1962. Specifically, Pieds-Noirs were French nationals, including those of European descent, Sephardic Jews, and settlers from other European countries such as Spain, Italy, and Malta, who were born in Algeria.
The Pied-Noir are known in reference to the Algerian War, which saw the deaths of 24,000 French Nationals and between 30,000 and 150,000 Algerians, with estimates varying due to differing statistical analyses. The Algerian War was fought by nationalist groups such as the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) against the colonial French government in response to political and economic inequalities as well as their perceived "alienation" from the French settlers. The conflict attributed to the fall of the French Fourth Republic and the repatriation of French Nationals to France. Le Robert cites that from 1901 the word indicated a sailor working bare foot in the coal room of a ship, who would find his feet dirtied by the soot. In the Mediterranean, this was often an Algerian native, thus the term was used pejoratively for Algerians until 1955 when it first began referring to "French born in Algeria." This usage originated from mainland French as a negative nickname.. At their arrivals, french officials and executives were often dressed with same clothes : white helmet, white jacket, white trousers, and black boots. Settlers, at their beginings, worked to clear lands on the south of Algiers which were swamps, of which black mud adhered to foots and legs of the workers. Settlers also often owned vineyards, and at the season of the grape harvest, they trampled it bare foot in the vat, so their foots were dark red, almost black.

History

French invasion and settlement

European settlement began in the 1830s when France invaded Algeria. The invasion was instigated when the Dey of Algiers struck the French consul with a fly-swatter in 1827, although economic reasons are also cited. In 1830, the government of Charles X blockaded Algeria and an armada sailed to Algiers, followed by a land expedition. A complement of 34,000 soldiers landed on June 18, 1830, at Sidi Ferruch, west of Algiers. Following a three-week campaign, the Dey Hussein capitulated on July 5, 1830, and was exiled. In 1839, al-Kader began a seven-year war by declaring jihad against the French. The French signed two peace treaties with al-Kader, but they were broken because of miscommunication between the military and the Parisian government. In response to the breaking of the second treaty, al-Kader drove the French to the coast. In reply, a force of nearly 100,000 troops marched to the Algerian countryside and forced al-Kader's surrender in 1847. In 1848, Algeria was divided into three départements of France, Alger, Oran, and Constantine, thus becoming part of the French state. This system lasted until the 1880s and the rise of the French Third Republic, when colonization intensified. but many of the Pieds-Noirs had a tenuous connection to mainland France, which 28 percent of them had never visited. The settlers encompassed a range of socioeconomic strata from peasants to large landowners, who were called grand colons.
In Algeria, the Muslims were not considered French and didn't share the same political or economic benefits. To obtain citizenship, they were required to renounce their Muslim identity. Since this would constitute apostasy, only about 2,500 Muslims acquired citizenship before 1930. Others arrived following the Spanish Reconquista and more from Palestine after the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73 CE). In 1870, Justice Minister Adolphe Crémieux wrote a proposal, décret Crémieux (French: The Crémieux decree), giving French citizenship to Algerian Jews. Thus, the Jews of Algeria came to be considered part of the Pied-Noir community.

Algerian War and exodus

Algerian War

For more than a century France maintained colonial rule in Algerian territory. Discontent among the native Algerians grew after the World Wars, in which the Algerians sustained many casualties.
The bloodshed culminated in 1961 during an Algiers putsch of 1961, led by retired generals. After this failure, on March 18, 1962, de Gaulle and the FLN signed a cease-fire agreement, the Évian accords, and held a referendum. In July, the Algerians voted 5,975,581 to 16,534 to become independent of France. These factors, the Oran Massacre, and the referendum for independence caused the Pied-Noir exodus to begin in earnest. In France, many relocated to the south, which offered a climate similar to North Africa. The influx of new citizens affected the existing population by bolstering local economies; however, the newcomers also competed for jobs, which caused resentment. Their resettlement was made easier by the economic boom of the 1960s. However, the ease of assimilation depended on socioeconomic class. Integration was easier for the upper classes, many of whom found the transformation less stressful than the lower classes, who were not prepared for reduced status. Many were surprised that they no longer were seen as superior; in fact, they were often treated as an "underclass or outsider-group". Also, many Pieds-Noirs contended that the money allocated by the government to assist in relocation and reimbursement was insufficient.
Thus, the repatriated Pieds-Noirs frequently felt "disaffected" from French society. They also suffered from a sense of alienation stemming from the French government's changed position towards Algeria. Until independence, Algeria was legally a part of France; after independence many felt that they'd been betrayed and were an "embarrassment" to their country or to blame for the war.

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