Neptune's Needle

city (1990 pop. 496,938; 2000 pop. 484,674), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE Louisiana, between the Mississippi River (SW), Lake Pontchartrain (N), and Lake Borgne (SE), 107 mi/172 km by water from the river mouth; 30º04'N 89º56'W. Founded 1718 by the sieur de Bienville. The largest city in Louisiana and one of the largest in the South, New Orleans is a major U.S. port of entry. It has long been one of the busiest and most efficient international ports in the country, leading the nation in tonnage of goods conveyed. Its fine port accommodates ship and barge traffic, helping to make the New Orleans area one of the leading industrial transportation centers in the South. The region has extensive shipbuilding and repair yards as well as plants manufacturing a wide variety of products. It was soon after the sieur de Bienville had the city plotted in 1718 it took prominence as a port, and in 1722 it became the capital of the French colony. The transfer of Louisiana to Spain by the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris (1763). New Orleans was returned to French hands only briefly before passing to the U.S. with the Louisiana Purchase (1803). After Andrew Jackson’s victory over the British at New Orleans (Jan. 8, 1815) had written a postscript to the War of 1812, the W movement in the U.S. carried the “Queen City of the Mississippi” to almost fabulous heights as a port and market for cotton and slaves. New Orleans recovered from Reconstruction and passed through the end of the river-steamboat era to emerge as a modern city.

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Compiler

Peter Richards