Photos by cornishpastie : on the map, in Google Earth (KML)

I understood that this part of North Africa at that point was no more than nominally a part of the "Ottoman Empire", and it was effectively under the loose control of local leaders - "deys" -whose main income was from the piracy as mentioned. The pieds noirs were, of course, natives of Algeria too, the great majority of them at least,by the time this photo was taken. They came and founded the country that came to be known as Algeria ; the Moslem Arabs had, in their time, spread into that region in the 7th century, gaining ascendancy over the Kabyle population already residing in parts of the area. It was the pieds noirs, though, whether of French, Italian, Spanish or Maltese descent, who transformed that part of North Africa into a prosperous, modern country, with great cities, modern roads and railways, fine harbours and thriving agriculture and industries...and they had very substantial support in what they did from large swathes of the Moslem population, who did not support the so-called "war of liberation" and were subjected to appalling intimidation because of this by the FLN, whose savagery is legendary - or would be, if the world media were not so biased against anything that could be termed "European colonialism."

Que de cœurs tendres pour se rappeler un passé si doux ! Malheureusement, vous ne trouverez aucune gloire... N'oubliez pas les déportés, les assassinés, les affamés et les orphelins !!! Vous êtes étrangers à cette terre autant que le premier français qui y a mis les pieds en 1830. Aimez l'Algérie autant que vous le voulez, mais ne redites plus jamais "Ici, c'est la France"... car le général Jouhaud, comme tous les autres généraux, n'a perdu que le pays qu'il a volé ! En cette veille de 1er Novembre: Vive l'Algérie, Algérienne, libre et indépendante !

A fine photograph of the centre of this lovely and historic town, oft-times winner of so many "Britain in Bloom" and other floral competitions. With its fertile soils, benign climate and long summer light, and its fine setting just to the north-west of the delightful wooded Cluny Hills, Forres is such an attractive place, with the sandy beaches of Findhorn close by, and the wooded gorges of the River Findhorn not far away either. It deserves the mention it gets in "Macbeth" !

A fine photograph of the lovely city which, when Algeria was part of France - Algérie française - was called "Bône". Its population was at that time not much short of being 50% of European descent. The streets, squares and esplanades of the Annaba of today, and much else besides, if they could speak, would speak in French, the language of the pieds noirs who lived here, and who did so much to create a modern thriving port city here in this location in North Africa. That they felt driven to leave, in 1962, during the collapse of Algeria as part of France, is an abiding tragedy of the 20th Century, and an eternal stain on the honour of De Gaulle, who abandoned the pieds noirs - people of European descent for whom Algeria was home - en masse.

Mostaganem without its pieds noirs, who, in June 1958 acclaimed De Gaulle here when he finished his speech with the words they most wanted to hear, "Vive Algérie francaise !" . They little knew then that he would, hardly 15 months later, change his tune to "Vive Algérie algérienne!" and begin a process that would lead to the end of Algeria as part of France and to their expulsion from the beloved land of their birth.