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From its beginnings, New Orleans has been locked to the Mississippi River, the cause for New Orleans wealth. It all started when Renée Robert
Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle came down the Mississippi River from Canada, claiming all the land for France and naming it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. At First no one wanted to settle on such low
ground, so the settlers started north in Baton Rouge, but it just wasn't right for a major port city.
In 1718 Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville established New Orleans as capital to
Louisiana to control the wealth of North America. Going south proved to be a better location for the type of port wanted.
The French referred to New Orleans the "Isle d'Orleans",
because of the rivers, lakes, and swamps surrounding the city. New Orleans was far better than the surrounding swamps, and soon became a dwelling place for tourists of the Mississippi. So already, New
Orleans was a popular tourist site.
From 1718- 1810 New Orleans had a very distinct European quality, from the wooden walls to the simple and plain buildings. During the eighteenth century the
growth of New Orleans was long and tedious.
New Orleans remained a French colony until 1763, when France was forced to cede Canada and all territory between the Appalachians and Mississippi,
including most of Florida and Louisiana, north of Lake Ponchartrain, to Britain by the Treaty of Paris. The rest of Louisiana including New Orleans was handed over to the Bourbons of Spain. New Orleans
was not really a "city" until well into the Spanish period. As a result of natural disasters, such as fires and hurricanes, the Vieux Carre is Spanish, not French.
New Orleans, under
Spanish rule became a town of drinking and "carousing", the settlers became mostly pirates, river boatsmen, soldiers, and citizens of all races.
Spanish rule came to an end in 1803 and
both the Creoles and Anglo-Saxons welcomed the end of Spanish rule. Creoles stated that Spain's political rule threatened their French heritage. Anglo-Saxons welcomed the increase of American trade,
government, and society that would eventually come to New Orleans. The city's economy drastically expanded after the rule of Spain in 1803.
American annexation, as expected, brought population
growth and economic development. In 1810 New Orleans was named the fifth largest city in the United States.
By the 1830's there were three main sections of the city: the original French
Quarter, the American sector, and Fauberg Marigny; which was the section just above Canal Street. The Garden District was established in the 1830's and 1840's. By 1852 the city grew up the river
to Louisiana Avenue, forming Lafayette. Also in the 1850's Jefferson City was formed as the area between Louisiana Avenue and Jefferson Avenue. Across the river from the French Quarter, Algiers was
expanded into a small city. And so the formation of all these small sectors of the city is what built New Orleans into what it is today.
On the next few pages, we’ll explore some of the places and history that make New Orleans what it is today.
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