About New Orleans, Louisiana (courtesy of Wikipedia)
New Orleans is a major United States port city and historically the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is in southeastern Louisiana along the Mississippi River, just south of Lake Pontchartrain, and is coextensive with Orleans Parish. New Orleans is named after Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States.
New Orleans is known for its multicultural heritage as well as its music and cuisine. It is considered the birthplace of jazz. Its status as a world-famous tourist destination is due in part to its architecture and its annual Mardi Gras and other celebrations. It is often called the "most unique city" in America.
The city's several nicknames are illustrative. Crescent City alludes to the course of the Mississippi River around and through the city; The Big Easy was possibly a reference by musicians in the early 1900's to the relative ease of finding work there, but most New Orleanians attribute the term to the city being more carefree and slowed down than cities like New York (the Big Apple); and 'The City that Care Forgot" refers to the outwardly easy-going, carefree nature of many of the residents.
The New Orleans Metropolitan Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, currently includes seven Parishes: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, St. Charles, and St. John the Baptist; with a total poulation of 1.3 million, making it the 35th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States.
The 2000 U.S. census put New Orleans's population at 484,674, but Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused the city's evacuation. After the extensive damage caused by the storm, many residents did not return. Population estimates as of June 2006 range from 192,000[6] to 230,000.
New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company as la Nouvelle-Orléans, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The site was selected because of its relatively high elevation along the flood-prone banks of the Lower Mississippi River and its location adjacent to a Native American trading route and portage between the river and Lake Pontchartrain.
In 1763, the French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire and remained under Spanish control for 40 years. Most of the surviving architecture of the French Quarter dates from this Spanish period. Louisiana reverted to French control in 1801, but two years later Napoleon sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The city grew rapidly, with influxes of Americans, French and Creole French.
During the War of 1812 the British sent a force to conquer the city. The British were defeated by American forces led by Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. However, a peace treaty was signed between the United States and Britain on December 24, 1814, and news of the treaty did not reach the United States in time to prevent the battle from occurring.
By 1840, New Orleans had become by far the wealthiest city in the nation, and was also ranked as the third most populous city, being beaten by Baltimore by only 119 people. Since that time, the city has become the thirteenth poorest large city in the Nation. Up until 1960 New Orleans had consistently been ranked in the top fifteen largest Cities in the U.S. but since that time, the city has shrunk to the thirty-fifth largest city in the U.S.
1888 German map of New OrleansThe population of the city doubled in the 1830s, and by 1840 the city's population was over 100,000—one of the largest cities in the U.S. Population growth was frequently interrupted by yellow fever epidemics, the last of which occurred in 1905.
As a principal port, New Orleans had a leading role in the slave trade, while at the same time having the most prosperous community of free persons of color in the South.[1][8] Early in the American Civil War New Orleans was captured by the Union. This action spared the city the destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South.
In the early 20th century, New Orleans was a progressive major city whose most portentous development was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Urban development theretofore was largely limited to higher ground along natural river levees and bayous. Wood's pump system allowed the city to expand into low-lying areas. Over the 20th century, rapid subsidence, both natural and human-induced, left these newly-populated areas several feet below sea level.[9][10]
New Orleans was vulnerable to flooding even before the age of negative elevation. In the late 20th century, however, scientists and New Orleans residents gradually became aware of the city's increased vulnerability. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 had killed dozens of residents even though the majority of the city remained dry. The rain-induced 1995 flood demonstrated the weakness of the pumping system.
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