New Orleans is a city in southern Louisiana, located on the Mississippi River. Most of the city is
situated on the east bank, between the river and Lake Pontchartrain to the north. Because it was built on a
great turn of the river, it is known as the Crescent City. New Orleans, with a population of 496,938 (1990
census), is the largest city in Louisiana and one of the principal cities of the South. It was established on
the high ground nearest the mouth of the Mississippi, which is 177 km (110 mi) downstream. Elevations
range from 3.65 m (12 ft) above sea level to 2 m (6.5 ft) below; as a result, an ingenious system of water
pumps, drainage canals, and levees has been built to protect the city from flooding.
New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, and named for the
regent of France, Philippe II, duc d'Orleans. It remained a French colony until 1763, when it was
transferred to the Spanish. In 1800, Spain ceded it back to France; in 1803, New Orleans, along with the
entire Louisiana Purchase, was sold by Napoleon I to the United States. It was the site of the Battle of New
Orleans (1815) in the War of 1812. During the Civil War the city was besieged by Union ships under
Adm. David Farragut; it fell on Apr. 25, 1862.
And that's what it say's in the books, a bit more, but nothing else of interest. This is too bad,
New Orleans , as a city, has a wide and diverse history that reads as if it were a utopian society built to
survive the troubles of the future. New Orleans is a place where Africans, Indians and European settlers
shared their cultures and intermingled. Encouraged by the French government, this strategy for
producing a durable culture in a difficult place marked New Orleans as different and special from its
inception and continues to distinguish the city today.
Like the early American settlements along Massachusetts Bay and Chesapeake Bay, New...
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