History lesson 1: AlgerIwasliedto

So interesting, the things you learn in foreign history books about your own country...
This is an extract from The Armchair Diplomat on Europe, by Melissa Rossi

"Algeria and the Swat that Led to Colonization

Until the 19th centure, Algeria, that Mediterranean-edged African land of sinewy mountains, thick stands of date palms and sweeping Saharan dunes was, for the French, little more than a pirate-infestes coast where they could buy wheat (blé). Decades after of huge shipments of grain had been shipped out to feed Napoleon's soldiers in Egypt, France hadn't shaved much off the resultant multi-million-dollar bill (n'avait pas payé). The lingering debt led to a showdown: in 1827, after being told that the imperious French king Charles X couldn't be bothered to answer Algeria's letters requesting payment, the enreaged Algerian leader Hussein Dey called the French consul in Algiers a number of unflattering terms - then slapped him with a flyswatter and booted him from the palace.
King Charles settled the dispute by sending in the military and announcing that Algeria was a French colony. Given the clash of cultures - Algeria was mostly Arab-Berber, Muslim and heavily tribal - it would probably never have been a happy cohabitation, but it started on an excessively violent note. The French, who claimed to be on a "civilizing mission", raped the local women, robbed the state treasury, pillaged villages, defaced cemetaries and looted mosques - and sequestered the best agricultural lands for the colonial farmers they soon sent in.
Not only was Algeria an agricultural annexe, the French also shipped troublemakers off to the seemingly faraway land which was considered part of France proper. The locals had few rights, although eventually they were offered French citizenship if they renounced Muslim law, which few wanted to do. Although many of the colonial "pieds-noirs" fell in love with the exotic land, few Algerians fell in love with the French, and it would all lead to a major blow-out when Algeria tried to shake off France 130 years later and France wouldn't let go."