![]() The priest-chronicler Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix described New Orleans in 1721 as a place of a hundred wretched hovels in a malarious wet thicket of willows and dwarf palmettos, infested by serpents and alligators he seems to have been the first, however, to predict for it an imperial future. Nonetheless, in 1722, New Orleans was made the capital of French Louisiana, replacing Biloxi in that role. Law's Mississippi Company collapsed, stopping the flow of investment money to New Orleans. The scheme, however, created an investment bubble that burst at the end of 1720. The regent allowed Scottish economist John Law to create a private bank and a financing scheme that succeeded in increasing the colonial population of New Orleans and other areas of Louisiana. The city was named in honor of the then Regent of France, Philip II, Duke of Orléans. įrom its founding, the French intended New Orleans to be an important colonial city. John, offering access to the Gulf of Mexico port of Biloxi without going downriver 100 miles and it offered control of the entire Mississippi River Valley, at a safe distance from Spanish and English colonial settlements. After considering several alternatives, Bienville selected the site for several strategic reasons and practical considerations, including: it was relatively high ground, along a sharp bend of the flood-prone Mississippi River, which thus created a natural levee (previously chosen as the site of an abandoned Quinipissa village) it was adjacent to the trading route and portage between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain via Bayou St. New Orleans was founded in early 1718 by the French as La Nouvelle-Orléans, under the direction of Louisiana governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. These early European settlements are now within the limits of the city of New Orleans, though they predate the city's official founding. ![]() In 1708, land grants along the Bayou were given to French settlers from Mobile, but the majority left within the next two years due to the failure of attempts to grow wheat there. Jean" (known to later generations of New Orleanians as "Old Spanish Fort") at the mouth of the bayou in 1701, using as a base a large Native American shell midden dating back to the Marksville culture. ![]() Jean" near the head of the bayou this would later be known as the Faubourg St. By the end of the decade, the French made an encampment called "Port Bayou St. Topics: African-Americans - Cities - Politicsġ726 view of the young city of New Orleans from across the Mississippi River.įrench explorers, fur trappers and traders arrived in the area by the 1690s, some making settlements amid the Native American village of thatched huts along the Bayou.Pre-history through Native American era History of Louisiana After the significant destruction and loss of life resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city would bounce back and rebuild in the ensuing years. With its rich and unique cultural and architectural heritage, New Orleans remains a major destination for live music, tourism, conventions, and sporting events and annual Mardi Gras celebrations. With it being the largest city in the South at the start of the Civil War (1861–1865), it was an early target for capture by Union forces. Throughout the 19th century, New Orleans was the largest port in the Southern United States, exporting most of the nation's cotton output and other products to Western Europe and New England. During the War of 1812, the last major battle was the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. ![]() The history of New Orleans, Louisiana, traces the city's development from its founding by the French in 1718 through its period of Spanish control, then briefly back to French rule before being acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Painting is on display in the Cabildo Museum. The painting has been praised for the research and historical accuracy which went into the period depiction. Painting by Thure de Thulstrup on commission to commemorate centennial of the event. Painting depicting first raising of the USA flag with the Louisiana Purchase, in main plaza (now Jackson Square), New Orleans. Hoisting of American Colors over Louisiana.
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