L'immigration maghrébine en France

North African immigration in France : a historical overview, Charles-Robert Ageron. The number of North Africans now living in France equals that of the Europeans present in North Africa at the end of the colonial period. Starting from this " ruse of history ", the author recalls some obvious facts which seem to have been forgotten in the present discussion on immigration. Until 1959, the massive importation of North African workers did not stem from calculations of business leaders or French officials. Conversely, it was not only under-development, under-employment and overpopulation which made so many North Africans cross the Mediterranean : imagination also played its role ; the call of the " paradise of man " excited the social mobility of these people. Everything changed in the 1950s, when immigration became a family process of a permanent nature and the French realized this alteration.Ageron Charles-Robert. L'immigration maghrébine en France. In: Vingtième Siècle, revue d'histoire, n°7, juillet-septembre 1985. Étrangers, immigres, français, sous la direction de Louis Bodin . pp. 59-70