french colonialism had a devastating effect on lives of algerians. by world war i, the number of settlers from france and other european countries, mostly from italy, spain, and malta, reached 800,000 in a native population of 4.5-5 million. about half of the european settlers were working-class wageearners. their standard of living was in general lower than that of their equivalents in metropolitan france but much higher than that of algerians. french settlers took possession of 6 millions acres, which represented 40% of all agricultural and 98% of the country's most productive land. the europeans also controlled almost all the country's infrastructure, industry, and commerce and dominated its government and the judicial and educational systems. in sum, the french government created a feudal system in which a few thousand europeans ruled over millions of algerians.