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New Orleans is a major U.S. port and the largest city
in the state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans
Metropolitan Area, the largest metro area in the state. New Orleans area is
home to numerous celebrations, the most popular of which is Carnival, often
referred to as Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras, the final and grandest day of
festivities, is the last Tuesday before the Catholic liturgical season of
Lent, which commences on Ash Wednesday. The largest of the city's many music
festivals is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Commonly referred to
simply as "Jazz Fest", it is one of the largest music festivals in the
nation, featuring crowds of people from all over the world, coming to
experience music, food, arts, and crafts. |
Visiting New Orleans
The city is named after Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans, Regent of France, and is
well known for its multicultural and multilingual heritage, cuisine,
architecture, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual
celebrations and festivals, particularly Mardi Gras. The city is often
referred to as the "most unique" city in America.
New Orleans is world-famous for its abundance of unique architectural styles
which reflect the city's historical roots and multicultural heritage. Though
New Orleans possesses numerous structures of national architectural
significance, it is equally, if not more, revered for its enormous,
largely-intact (even post-Katrina) historic built environment. Twenty
National Register Historic Districts have been established, and fourteen
local historic districts aid in the preservation of this tout ensemble.
New Orleans has many major attractions, from the world-renowned French
Quarter and Bourbon Street's notorious nightlife to St. Charles Avenue (home
of Tulane and Loyola Universities, the historic Pontchartrain Hotel, and
many 19th century mansions), to Magazine Street, with its many boutique
stores and antique shops.
According a CNN poll in October 2007, New Orleans is the best U.S. city for
live music, cocktail hours, flea markets, antique shopping, nightlife, "wild
weekends", "girlfriend getaways" and cheap food.
Located in the French Quarter is the old New Orleans Mint, a former
branch of the United States Mint, which now operates as a museum, and The
Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum and research center housing art
and artifacts relating to the history of New Orleans and the Gulf South. The
National World War II Museum, opened in the Warehouse District in 2000 as
the "National D-Day Museum", is dedicated to providing information and
materials related to the Invasion of Normandy. Nearby, Confederate Memorial
Hall, the oldest continually operating museum in Louisiana (although under
renovation since Katrina), contains the second-largest collection of
Confederate memorabilia in the world. Art museums in the city include the
Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park,
and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. |
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A Brief History
La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded May 7, 1718, by the French
Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de
Bienville. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of
France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans. The
French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris (1763)
and remained under Spanish control until 1801, when it reverted to French
control. Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803.
The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites; 3,102 free persons of African
descent; and 3,226 enslaved refugees to the city, doubling its
French-speaking population.
During the last campaign of the War of 1812, the British sent a force of
11,000 troops in an attempt to capture New Orleans. Despite great
challenges, the young Andrew Jackson successfully cobbled together a motley
crew of local militia, free blacks, US Army regulars, Kentucky riflemen, and
local privateers to decisively defeat the British troops in the Battle of
New Orleans on 8 January 1815. However, it should be noted that the war had
ended on the 24th of December of the previous year, a fact that was unknown
to both sides.
The population of the city doubled in the 1830s and by 1840, New Orleans had
become the wealthiest and third-most populous city in the nation. The Union
captured New Orleans early in the American Civil War, sparing the city the
destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South.
New Orleans was vulnerable to flooding even before the city's footprint
departed from the natural high ground near the Mississippi River. In the
late 20th century, however, scientists and New Orleans residents gradually
became aware of the city's increased vulnerability. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy
killed dozens of residents, even though the majority of the city remained
dry.
By the time Hurricane Katrina approached the city at the end of August 2005,
most residents had evacuated. As the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast
region, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the
worst civil engineering disaster in American history. |
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