History of the Big Easy New Orleans Louisiana was founded by French colonists in 1817 They named the city La Nouvelle Orléans after the Duke of Orleans The city fell under Spanish rule in 1763 but the French got it back just in time to sell it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 ALBERTA SASKATCHEWAN CANADA MONTANA NORTH DAKOTA MINNESOTA SOUTH DAKOTA WYOMING IOWA NEBRASKA Denver COLORADO St Louis KANSAS MISSOURI NEW MEXICO OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS TEXAS LOUISIANA New MEXICO Orleans 4
During the Revolutionary War 1775 1783 New Orleans was an important port for smuggling military equipment and supplies to the rebels The British tried to take New Orleans during the War of 1812 but General Andrew Jackson stopped them GENERAL JACKSON LATER BECAME PRESIDENT JACKSON YOU CAN FIND HIS FACE IN YOUR WALLET HIS IMAGE 15 ON THE 20 BILL President Andrew Jackson 1767 1845 New Orleans Notes The Louisiana Purchase was much bigger than just the state of Louisiana The deal included about 827 000 square miles 225,329 square kilometers and cost 15 million 5
Because of its location New Orleans played a large role in the antebellum slave trade both in the importing of slaves and the growing of cotton and sugar crops using slave labor During the Civil War 1861 1865 the city was captured by the Union Army New Orleans Notes When it was captured in 1862 New Orleans was the South's biggest and richest city 6
Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1868 It had its first mixed race governor in 1872 when P B S Pinchback was chosen to serve after the death of the state's current governor There was only one month left in the term for Pinchback to serve but it was a big moment in history P B S Pinchback 1837 1921 was later elected to the Louisiana Senate The United States wouldn't see another person of color become governor until Douglas Wilder became governor of Virginia in 1989 7
