Contact: Lea Sinclair, 504-491-5330, [email protected]
HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS
From French Outpost to World-Class City
New Orleans, LA – The history of New Orleans is turbulent and complex, the very reason it is one of America’s
most interesting cities. Originally founded as a French outpost in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville,
Nouvelle Orleans was passed back and forth between the Spanish and the French before being purchased by the
United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Throughout the years, thousands of Spanish, French, and German immigrants came from Europe seeking a new start.
The addition of Acadian exiles arrived from Nova Scotia, and thousands of slaves from the Caribbean and Africa
turned New Orleans into a true melting pot which lives on today in the city's food and music. And while people
constantly immigrated and traveled through New Orleans, the city was always culturally disconnected from the rest of
the country.
Due to its development as a port near the mouth of the Mississippi River, which controlled trade and commerce to
many other parts of the country, it has historically been a battleground in many conflicts, including the American and
French Revolutions. The Battle of New Orleans, the last major battle of the War of 1812 where Andrew Jackson
defeated British forces, was fought just outside the city in Chalmette in 1815. During the Civil War, New Orleans was
captured by the Union without a major battle and spared the destruction that many other cities saw. By 1840, New
Orleans had grown to be the nation's fourth-largest city.
The Crescent City was also noted as the birthplace of jazz, sometime around 1900. Those musical roots can be traced
back to the 1700s when slaves used to sing and dance in Congo Square. The early 1900s were also an interesting time
for New Orleans: yellow fever hit the city; the Old U.S. Mint made its last batch of currency; major hurricanes struck;
and the Storyville District was shut down. By the 1950s, New Orleans began a period of rapid growth, expanding its
footprint into the surrounding suburbs.
New Orleans’ interesting and often tumultuous history carried on into modern times. During World War II, New
Orleans was the site of the construction of the Higgins boats that were proclaimed to be vital in the victory of the war.
In 1965, the city was slammed and flooded by Hurricane Betsy; but ten years later it finished construction of the
Superdome, the largest fixed dome structure in the world. In 1984 New Orleans hosted the 1984 Louisiana World
Exposition. In August of 2005, it was decimated by Hurricane Katrina. The subsequent flooding of 80% of the city, due
to breached Corps of Engineers levees, was at the time the costliest man-made disaster in American history. As of
2014, the city remained on the strong path of recovery and resilience, hailed a model city to the nation.
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About New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (NOTMC)
NOTMC promotes the city as a leisure tourism destination throughout the year. Annually, NOTMC’s marketing
campaigns include strategic digital and broadcast TV advertising, social media and public relations. Websites:
neworleansonline.com; followyourNOLA.com; GoNOLA.com. Social media: Facebook.com/NewOrleans;
Twitter.com/visitneworleans; Instagram.com/VisitNewOrleans; Pinterest.com/VisitNewOrleans;
YouTube.com/gonolatv.