French Algeria (French: Alger to 1839, then Algérie afterward; unofficially Algérie française, Arabic: الجزائر الفرنسية‎‎, Al-Jaza'ir al-Fransiyah) began in 1827 with the blockade of Algiers by the French navy and lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest of French North Africa, was never considered part of France. One of France's longest-held overseas territories, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, known as colons and later, as pieds-noirs. However, indigenous Muslims remained a majority of the territory's population throughout its history. Gradually, dis