 Although the crusaders came upon an ancient urban society, Ellenblum argues that they never completely abandoned their rural European lifestyle, but nor was European society completely rural to begin with.Crusader settlement in the Levant resembled the types of colonization and settlement that were already being practiced in Europe, a mixture of urban and rural civilization centred around fortresses.The crusaders were neither totally integrated with the native population, nor segregated in the cities away from the rural natives; rather they settled in both urban and rural areas; specifically, in areas traditionally inhabited by Eastern Christians.