New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. At first, it was nothing more than a trading camp on a curve in the east bank of the Mississippi River. Later, the city was organized into a rectangular, fortified community, which still exists today as the French Quarter. The resulting streets were named for French royalty and nobility.

As the community grew to the west, north, and east, it followed the curve in the river and became known as “the Crescent City” because of its shape. Because the city was surrounded by swamps and marshes (with a sea level of approximately six feet at its highest point), the spring rise in the Mississippi River level and tidal surges from hurricanes resulted in the building of levees around the city and the river. This also explains the ground-level “basements” for most of the old structures in the New Orleans area.

Even to this day, the city’s massive pumps and canals drain the city: annual rainfall can be between 60 and 100 inches. The total miles of canals (above and below ground) in New Orleans exceed that of Venice in Italy.

The lagoons in City Park, along City Park Boulevard, are all that remains of what was once Bayou Metairie. Other bayous remain, including Bayou St. John, Bayou Sauvage, and Bayou Bienvenue in Chalmette.

New Orleans was the home of the first opera house in America. Antebellum New Orleans was the musical hotbed of the nation, and artists and craftsmen from around the globe immigrated to the vibrant port. Residents reveled in cultural and recreational opportunities far beyond what most cities of New Orleans' size could offer. New Orleans was the cultural center of the South.

Although New Orleans was established as the capital of the French colony of Louisiana, it was actually twice the capital of the state of Louisiana. The capital was moved from New Orleans to Donaldsonville in 1825, to Baton Rouge in 1846, to New Orleans in 1864, and once again to Baton Rouge—where it remained—in 1879.

Canal Street, once the widest street in the world, was named for a canal that was planned for, but never built, in the median. For decades, the only use for the median was public transportation, mostly by the Canal Street Streetcars.

The first New Orleans “Skyscraper” was built in 1807. It was the first four-story building in the city and is still standing and in use, on the corner of Royal St. Peter streets in the French Quarter.

Today, New Orleans is undergoing a creative renaissance. The city boasts world-class museums, including Smithsonian affiliates The National World War II Museum and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Artist studios and galleries line the streets of the French Quarter/Marigny, Warehouse/Arts District, and Magazine Street. Performing arts groups, their shows, and the venues that host them speckle the map. All around the city, historic neighborhoods are being revitalized.