New Orleans, Louisiana

History

Main article: History of New Orleans

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Colonial era

The place was first discovered by Spanish conqueror Alonso Alvarez de Pineda on 1518 together with Missisipi river which was named "Espiritu Santo" river.

Related Topics:
Alonso Alvarez de Pineda - 1518

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New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French as La Nouvelle-Orléans, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The site was selected because it was a rare bit of natural high ground along the flood-prone banks of the lower Mississippi, and was adjacent to a Native American trading route and portage between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain via Bayou St. John (known to natives as Bayou Choupique). A community of French fur trappers and traders had existed along the bayou (in what is now the middle of New Orleans) for at least a decade before the official founding of the city. Nouvelle-Orléans became the capital of French Louisiana in 1722, replacing Biloxi.

Related Topics:
French - Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville - Flood - Native American - Portage - Lake Pontchartrain - Fur trapper - Traders - Bayou - French Louisiana - Biloxi

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In 1763, the colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire and remains so along 40 years.

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The Great Fire of 1788 destroyed many of the existing structures in the city (800 houses were destroyed), which were made of wood. As a result of this, and a subsequent fire in 1795 (another 200 houses destroyed), much of 18th century architecture still present in the French Quarter was built under Spanish rule and demonstrates Spanish colonial characteristics, wood was replaced with bricks.

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The three most imponent buildings of New Orleans comes from the Spanish times: St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytere.

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In 1795, Spain granted the United States "Right of Deposit" in New Orleans, allowing Americans to use the city's port facilities. Louisiana reverted to French control in 1801 after Napoleon re-acquired the territory from Spain by treaty. But in 1803, Napoleon sold Louisiana (which then included portions of more than a dozen present-day states) to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. At this time the city of New Orleans had a population of about 10,000.

Related Topics:
United States - Napoleon - Louisiana Purchase

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19th century

In its early days it was noted for its cosmopolitan polyglot population and mixture of cultures. The city grew rapidly, with influxes of Americans, French and Creole French, many of the latter fleeing from the revolution in Haiti. During the War of 1812 the British sent a force to try to conquer the city, but they were defeated by forces led by Andrew Jackson some miles down river from the city at Chalmette, Louisiana on January 8, 1815 (commonly known as the Battle of New Orleans).

Related Topics:
Polyglot - Creole - Haiti - War of 1812 - British - Andrew Jackson - Chalmette, Louisiana - January 8 - 1815 - Battle of New Orleans

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The population of the city doubled in the 1830s, and by 1840 the city's population was around 102,000, fourth-largest in the U.S, the largest city away from the Atlantic seaboard, as well as the largest in the South after Baltimore. However, population growth was at times plagued by yellow fever epidemics, such as the great scourge of 1853 that killed nearly 10,000 people in New Orleans.

Related Topics:
1830s - Atlantic seaboard - South - Baltimore - Yellow fever

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One famous New Orleans socialite of the time was Delphine LaLaurie who threw lavish parties.

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New Orleans was the capital of the state of Louisiana until 1849, then again from 1865 to 1880. As a principal port it had a leading role in the slave trade, while at the same time having North America's largest community of free persons of color. Early in the American Civil War it was captured by the Union (by David Farragut -son of Spanish emigrants- later named the first US Navy Vice-Admiral) without a battle, and hence was spared the destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South. It was the first captured city in the American South. It retains a historical flavor with a wealth of 19th century structures far beyond the early colonial city boundaries of the French Quarter. The city hosted the 1884 World's Fair, called the World Cotton Centennial. An important attraction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the famous red light district called Storyville.

Related Topics:
Slave trade - American Civil War - 19th century - French Quarter - World's Fair - World Cotton Centennial - Red light district - Storyville

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20th century

Much of the city is located below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the city is surrounded by levees. Until the early 20th century, construction was largely limited to the slightly higher ground along old natural river levees and bayous, since much of the rest of the land was swampy and subject to frequent flooding. This gave the 19th century city the shape of a crescent along a bend of the Mississippi, the origin of the nickname The Crescent City. In the 1910s engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood enacted his ambitious plan to drain the city, including large pumps of his own design which are still used. All rain water must be pumped up to the canals which drain into Lake Pontchartrain. Wood's pumps and drainage allowed the city to expand greatly in area. However, pumping of groundwater from underneath the city has resulted in subsidence. The subsidence greatly increased the flood risk, should the levees be breached or precipitation be in excess of pumping capacity (as was the case in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina). There were many warnings in the late 20th century that a major hurricane or a Mississippi flood could create a lake in the central city as much as 9 m (30 ft) deep, which could take months to pump dry.

Related Topics:
Sea level - Levee - 20th century - Bayou - Nickname - 1910s - A. Baldwin Wood - Groundwater - Subsidence - Hurricane Katrina - Hurricane

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In the 1920s an effort to "modernize" the look of the city removed the old cast-iron balconies from Canal Street, the city's commercial hub. In the 1960s another "modernization" effort replaced the Canal Streetcar Line with buses. Both of these moves came to be regarded as mistakes long after the fact, and the streetcars returned to a portion of Canal Street at the end of the 1990s, and construction to restore the entire line was completed in April 2004.

Related Topics:
1920s - 1960s - 1990s

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The suburbs saw great growth in the second half of the 20th century; the largest suburb today is Metairie, which borders New Orleans to the west. Metairie is not incorporated and is a part of Jefferson Parish.

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While long one of the USA's most-visited cities, tourism boomed in the last quarter of the 20th century, becoming a major force in the local economy.

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Areas of the French Quarter and Central Business District which were long oriented towards local residential and business uses switched to largely catering to the domestic and international tourist industry.

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A century after the Cotton Centennial Exhibition, New Orleans hosted another World's Fair, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.

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On the afternoon of Saturday, December 14, 1996, the Bright Field freightliner/bulk cargo vessel slammed into the Riverwalk mall and hotel complex on Poydras Street Wharf along the Mississippi River. Amazingly, nobody died in the accident, although about 116 were injured. 15 shops and 456 hotel rooms were demolished. The freightliner was unable to be removed from the crash site until January 6, 1997, by which time the site had become something of a "must-see" tourist attraction.

Related Topics:
Saturday - December 14 - 1996 - Bright Field - Cargo - Riverwalk - January 6 - 1997

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Hurricane Katrina

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:Main article: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans

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The city suffered greatly from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall on August 29, 2005 on the gulf coast near the city. Mayor Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation of the entire city, the first such order ever issued in New Orleans. Many residents chose to stay or, because of the failure to activate available public transportation (hundreds of available buses later lost to flooding), were stranded in the city. The eye of the storm passed within 10 to 15 miles of New Orleans, bringing strong winds that downed trees, shattered windows, and hurled debris around the area. Heavy rains and flooding immediately affected the eastern areas of the city.

Related Topics:
Hurricane Katrina - August 29 - 2005 - Gulf - Evacuation

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The situation worsened on August 30 when at least two levees which drain into Lake Pontchartrain were breached. As much as 80% of the city, much of which is below sea level, flooded, with water reaching a depth of 25 feet (7.6 meters) in some areas. As of September 19 the number of confirmed deaths due to Katrina in Louisiana reached 964. Early estimates of the cost of physical damage from the storm have exceeded 100 billion USD, however the actual total could be much greater - surpassing Hurricane Andrew as the costliest hurricane in United States history. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-weather-katrina-economy.html

Related Topics:
August 30 - Levees - Lake Pontchartrain - Sea level - September 19 - Billion - USD - Hurricane Andrew - Hurricane - United States

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The city government declared the city off-limits to residents while clean-up efforts began and warned that those remaining could be removed by force, for their health and safety. On September 15, several of the suburban towns had started allowing residents to return. The mayor announced a "phased repopulation" plan to start bringing residents of the city back in the next two weeks. Concern about the fragility of the city's flood defences and transportation caused repopulation efforts to be postponed due to Hurricane Rita. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/15/katrina.impact/index.html. New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward was reflooded when a storm surge from Rita overcame one of the repaired levees on the Industrial Canal http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5300327,00.html. By October 1, parts of the city accounting for about one-third of the population of New Orleans had been reopened, including the French Quarter.http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/01/katrina.recovery.ap/index.html As of October 1, only 5% of the city remained underwater.

Related Topics:
September 15 - Hurricane Rita - October 1 - French Quarter

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