 During the 19th century, there had occurred a massive immigration of French, Maltese, Italian, Spanish and other European settlers to Algeria who were known either as the "pied-noirs" or the "colons", and who enjoyed all the rights of being French citizens.French policies during the 19th century encouraged the dispossession of Muslim farmers who were pushed off their land to allow their land to be handed over to European settlers, who usually took the best land for themselves.This led to much resentment on the part of the Algerian Muslims who complained the prosperous farms owned by the "pied-noirs" had once belonged to their families.