The history of Algiers from 1815 to 1962 is bound to Algeria and its relationship to France. On July 4; 1830; under the pretext of an affront to the French consul鈥攚hom the dey (an Ottoman ruler) had hit with a fly-whisk when the consul said the French government was not prepared to pay its large outstanding debts to two Algerian Jewish merchants鈥攁 French army under General de Bourmont attacked the city in the 1830 invasion of Algiers. The city capitulated the following day. Algiers became the capital of French Algeria. Many Europeans settled in Algiers; and by the early 20th century they formed a majority of the city's population. Algeria achieved independence on July 5; 1962.