New Orleans History

New Orleans history is very rich and the city is a great place to live. The city is a strategic United States port that is important for the economic activities of not only Louisiana, but the entire region. New Orleans is the largest city in the southern state of Louisiana and it is the center of the larger New Orleans Metro Area. The city is located in the south eastern corner of the state along the Mississippi River.

The city got its name from Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans, who was the Regent of France at the time and New Orleans is the English translation of its original name that was La Nouvelle-Orléans. The city was formed in May of 1718 by the French Mississippi Company that was led by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The original inhabitants of New Orleans were the Chitimacha.
A fact about New Orleans history is that it has a much diversified population. This is because in the 1804 Haitian Revolution, the blacks won and there was an influx of refugees, both black and white, into New Orleans which is not far from the island of Haiti. Most white men brought slaves with them and this shaped the history of New Orleans and it explains the large number of black people in New Orleans. The population diversity in New Orleans is also because there was no restriction about refugees getting into the state. An example of this is the influx into New Orleans of nearly all Haitian émigrés who had escaped the war and gone to Cuba. This was the early 1800s and according to official records, the immigrants included 2,731 whites, 3,102 free blacks 3,226 black slaves.

New Orleans came under attack from the British in the war of 1812, but James Jackson, who was a young man at the time, was able to defeat them aided by an untrained army in the Battle of New Orleans that was fought in 1815. However, the Union was able to captured New Orleans in the American Civil War and this spared the city the destruction that had befallen other southern cities.

An interesting fact in the history of New Orleans is that the first ever non-white governor of a United States state was from New Orleans and he was named P.S.B. Pinchback, and he led the state after being its lieutenant governor for some years. This was back in 1872 and it was not until 117 years later that another black was elected to be governor.
New Orleans history continues to be written, especially with the infamous Katrina which turned most of the city to ruins. The city has been reconstructed and people have moved back in and the future of New Orleans seems to be as bright and eventful as its past.

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