FROM THE CONFERENCE DIRECTOR BY CHRIS NOYES
CELEBRATING ITS 300TH ANNIVERSARY! New Orleans, which is the location for SubOptic 2019, is a city rich in history and is celebrating its 300th Anniversary in 2018, so I thought to share the colorful history of the city that has something for everyone – thanks to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.
FRENCH FOUNDERS: 1718
In 1718, the Frenchman Sieur de Bienville founded strategic port city five feet below sea level, near the juncture of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. The new city, or ville, was named La nouvelle Orleans for Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, and centered around the Place d'Armes (later to be known as Jackson Square). The original city was confined to the area we now call the French Quarter or Vieux Carre (Old Square).
SPANISH RULE: 1762-1801
In 1762, either because he lost a bet or because the royal coffers were exhausted, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his Spanish cousin, King
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Charles III. Spanish rule was relatively short -- lasting until 1801 -but Spain would leave a lasting imprint on the city. In 1788, the city went up in flames, incinerating over 800 buildings. New Orleans was still recovering when a second fire in 1794 destroyed 200 structures. One of the only French structures to survive these fires is the Old Ursuline Convent (1100 Chartres). Completed in 1752, it is the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley. This means that most of the buildings you see in the French Quarter were actually constructed by the Spanish and feature distinctly Spanish architectural elements.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE: 1803
In 1801 Louisiana ceded back to France, but only two years later Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, effectively doubling the size of the USA. At a cost of only $15 million, it was considered one of the greatest real estate bargains in history.
THE AMERICAN SECTOR AND HAITIAN IMMIGRATION After the Louisiana Purchase, Americans arrived en masse as did European immigrants from Germany, Ireland and Sicily. Tension existed between the European Creoles concentrated in the French Quarter and the new American residents. As a result, the Americans settled across Canal Street in what was known then as the American Sector, known today as The Central Business District. The two factions skirmished often, and the Canal Street median became a neutral area where the two groups could come together to do business without invading the other's territory. Ever since, all city medians have been called neutral grounds. And the Haitian Revolution of 1804 meant that for years to come thousands of Afro-Caribbean descent would come to call New Orleans home. These immigrants further diversified the population of New Orleans and made colorful contributions to the city's culture.
THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS