History of New Orleans

The history of New Orleans, Louisiana, goes back to its founding by the French, a period of Spanish control and a return to French rule before being sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. It has been one of the South’s most important cities for much of its history.

The French

In the 1690s, the French explorer LaSalle claimed the territory of Louisiana for the French. The King of France gave the Company of the West, owned by John Law, a proprietorship to develop a colony in the new territory. Law appointed Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville Commandant and Director General of the new colony.

At this time, the Mississippi River served as the main highway for trade with the New World, and Bienville wanted a colony here. The Native American Choctaw Nation showed Bienville a route to steer clear of the treacherous waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River by entering Lake Pontchartrain from the Gulf of Mexico and sailing on Bayou St John to the spot where the city now stands.

In 1718, Bienville’s vision of a city came true. The city streets were laid out in 1721, and many were named after the royal houses of France and Catholic saints. Bourbon Street was named, not after the alcoholic drink, but after the Royal House of Bourbon, the family occupying the French throne at the time.

The Spanish

In 1762, Louisiana was ceded to Spain as a result of the French and Indian War, and Great Britain gained control of Florida, which extended to the east bank of the Mississippi. Two major fires and the sub-tropical climate destroyed many of the French buildings.

New Orleans’ residents quickly learned to build with indigenous cypress and brick. The Spanish introduced new building codes, calling for tile roofs and native brick walls. A walk through the French quarter today, shows that the architecture is really more Spanish than French.

The Americans

With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, followed the Americans. These newcomers to the city were regarded by the French and Spanish Creoles as low-class, unsophisticated people, who were not fitting for the high society of the Creoles. Even though the Creoles had to do business with the Americans, they did not want them in the old city.

Canal Street was built at the upriver edge of the French quarter to keep the Americans out. Crossing over Canal Street today, visitors will notice that all the old ‘rues’ have changed to ‘streets’ with different names.

Flooding and Katrina

Much of the city is located below sea level, between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, so the city is surrounded by levees. The city’s river levees narrowly escaped being broken in the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. However, this was later accomplished by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.

In the aftermath of the storm, what has been called ‘the largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States’, flooding lead to the levee and floodwall system protecting New Orleans to give way. Today, New Orleans is slowly getting back on its feet, and its residents’ fun-loving spirit is alive and well again.