New Orleans, the "Crescent City," was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, governor of the French colony of Louisiana. Early settlers of the French-Canadian outpost included French, Canadians, Germans, African slaves and free people of color, a diversity that has characterized the city throughout its history.
Between 1763 and 1800, New Orleans became a Spanish colony. By the end of the 18th century, the port was flourishing and Anglo-Americans added to the mix.
The Cabildo, a historic site remaining from this period, is now a museum. It and the Historic New Orleans Collection on Royal Street preserve the largest collection of New Orleans history.
A distinctive Creole culture formed from the Spanish, French and free people of color. They spoke their own patois and developed a cuisine drawing together African, European and American influences.
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, New Orleans became part of the United States.
The final battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans, was fought there, with American general Andrew Jackson becoming a national hero and eventually US president. His volunteer army was made up of slaves, Anglo-Americans, free men of color, Creoles, Native Americans and pirates under Jean Lafitte.
New Orleans became a major port and financial center for the South until the Civil War. During the Civil War, it was besieged by Farragut, falling in 1862. Reconstruction crippled the New Orleans economy and upset the social order, especially for the large group of free blacks.
In the 1900s, the growth of jazz and Mardi Gras helped grow the tourism industry and rebuild the 13-block-wide French Quarter. The oil and petrochemical industries developed in the 1950s, and by the 1990s, the Port of New Orleans was the busiest in the nation.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 threatened New Orleans, as did the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.
Other articles in this website include New Orleans's distinctive culture, the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans in Popular Culture.
I hope you'll write me with your thoughts and memories of New Orleans at b.silvey@sbcglobal.net.
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