Pre-Civil War New Orleans

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...