The Founding of New Orleans:
While the expeditions of De Soto and La Salle had passed through the New Orleans area, there were few white settlers of the Native American dominated land until 1718 when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the governor of French-Louisiana founded the city of Nouvelle-Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The capital was transferred from Biloxi to New Orleans three years later. However, foreshadowing tragedy struck when a hurricane destroyed the city a few months later. It was quickly rebuilt into the grid pattern that is now known as the heart of New Orleans: the French Quarter. Under Spanish Rule: In 1762 and 1763, the French signed treaties ceding Louisiana to Spain, and for the next forty years, New Orleans was a Spanish city, a huge boon for the economy due to its ideal location next to the Gulf of Mexico, and because of this benefit, New Orleans traded heavily with Spanish assets Cuba and Mexico. As a Spanish city, New Orleans adopted Spain’s racial rules that allowed for a free class of people of color-the origins of the prominent African American community that exists in New Orleans today. Again, the city was ravaged by two huge fires that was the catalyst of the rebuilding of buildings in brick in Spanish-style architecture. The Louisiana Purchase: In 1803, Louisiana reverted back to the French, who 20 days later sold it to the United States, a sale dubbed the Louisiana Purchase. Additionally, a few years later, New Orleans played an important role as the final battle of the War of 1812, where Colonel Andrew Jackson lead a coalition of pirates, free blacks, and Tennessee Volunteers to successfully defend the city from British forces. New Orleans in the 1800s: New Orleans quickly became the United States’ wealthiest and third-largest city, because of its advantageous location that allowed it to serve as a port and ship much of the interior of the nation’s produce to the Caribbean, South America, and Europe. However, though thousands of slaves were sold and traded in the markets of New Orleans, the city still maintained a thriving free black population and until 1830, the majority of the residents still spoke French—a fact that reflects New Orleans’s ability to hold onto bits and pieces of it’s cultural past and incorporate them into its fibers. Additionally, while at the beginning of the Civil War, New Orleans was the biggest city in the Confederacy, it was only after a year that Union troops took the city unopposed after capturing it’s downriver defenses. The role of race also fluctuated with the times. During the Reconstruction Era, race became a possible political force as free people of color and emancipated slaves were brought into the political arena and process. However, with the rise of extremist white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White League, they were soon forced out. It was also during this time that the advent of the railroad reduced the role of shipping on the Mississippi. New Orleans, however, remained in influential port essential to the export and import trade with Europe. In the New Century: The glitz and glamour reached New Orleans! The city started to thrive with electrified streetcars and the birth of jazz in its clubs and dance halls. Utilizing new pump technology, New Orleans was able to expand as swamplands were beginning to be drained and levee walls and drainage canals were built to accommodate for the basin shaped, below-sea-level location of the city that made it prone to flooding and natural disasters such as hurricanes. However, this prevention of flooding created new problems that has turned into a larger issue in this day and age: the flooding accumulated sediment and soil along the coast of New Orleans, and it’s lack has caused the lapping waters of the Gulf of Mexico to slowly decrease the area of the city as it takes with it the soil that lines the edges of New Orleans. After World War II, “suburbanization” and conflict over the integration of schools drove many white residents out of the city, leaving a primarily impoverished African-American core population that was soon supplemented by waves of immigrants from around the world that flocked to the United States with high hopes of achieving the American Dream. Additionally, New Orleans grew as a tourist attraction as a result of the “Big Easy” persona it adopted, due to Mardi Gras festival, the excellent cuisine that many visitors complained was so good that it made them gain weight (aka Fat City) and acclaimed artists, such as Tennessee Williams and Louis Armstrong. Hurricane Katrina Strikes: On August 29, 2005, Category 5 Hurricane Katrina destroyed the haphazardly evacuated city of New Orleans. The winds tore away roofs and drove a huge storm surge that breached four levee walls and flooded 80% of the city. Hundreds were killed, and thousands were trapped in substandard conditions as they waited for federal and state aid. With reconstruction, many of the city’s residents returned—approximately 80% returned after five years. Citation: "New Orleans." History.com. A+E Networks, 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/new-orleans>. |