New Orleans, Louisiana

The Crescent City on the Mississippi, where Creole culture, Voodoo and Mardi Gras grew up together.

via Wikipedia: New Orleans · see source

New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, sharing its borders with Orleans Parish. The 2020 census counted 383,997 people, making it the largest city in the state, and its metro area holds about 1 million residents. Known as NOLA, the Big Easy and the Crescent City, it is a major Gulf Coast port and famous for its music, Creole food, local dialects and festivals, above all Mardi Gras. The French Quarter, with its French and Spanish Creole buildings and the nightlife of Bourbon Street, is the historic core.

Quick Facts

Founded

1718

River

Mississippi

Nicknames

NOLA
The Big Easy
Crescent City

Joined the us

Louisiana Purchase, 1803

Facts from the source article.

Background

French colonists of the Mississippi Company, led by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, founded the city in the spring of 1718 on Chitimacha land and named it for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. Enslaved Africans arrived in large numbers from the early 1720s, and the Code Noir of 1724 set harsh rules over their lives. Out of that mix came an Afro-Creole culture that joined African traditions with Catholic faith and the French language, producing Louisiana Voodoo and Louisiana Creole. Spain took over under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, and most surviving 18th-century buildings in the French Quarter date from Spanish rule. After a brief return to France, Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

Did You Know?

The Choctaw name for the area is said to mean "land of many tongues".
The nickname "The City that Care Forgot" has been in use since at least 1938.
In 1840 New Orleans ranked as the third most populous city in the United States.
Residents rose against Spanish rule in the Louisiana Rebellion of 1768.