High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Pied-Noir ("Black-Foot"), plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence. Specifically, Pieds-Noirs include those of European settlers descent from France or other European countries (such as Spain, Italy and Malta), who were born in Algeria. From the French invasion in 18 June 1830 until its independence, Algeria was administratively part of France. This name started to be used commonly shortly before the end of the Algerian independence war in 1962, while formerly they were simply called Algerians, whereas Muslim people of Algeria were called Muslims or Indigenous. By independence, the Pieds-Noirs accounted for 1,400,000 people, or roughly 13 percent of the total population.