Interesting Facts

The Big Easy

Interesting Facts

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Early Settlement

New Orleans was founded by Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville in 1718. Also known as "The Crescent City" for it's shape in formating to the curve in the Mississippi River this great city was once the center of French Government in the days of colonization. Long before the United States existed as a country New Orleans was a French Territory and the seat of French Government in North America. Many of the buildings of that era are still located in the French Quarter. The Cabildo, where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, is located in the French Quarter and is now home to the Louisiana State Museum.

Topography

A long-standing joke for many native New Orleanians was that "Monkey Hill", located in what is now the New Orleans Zoo, was the highest point on the cities' terrain. Not far from the truth as New Orleans lies between 6 and 20 feet below sea level, depending upon where you are in the city. A very intricate canal system runs throughout the city, both above ground and below, and is more expansive than the canal system in Venice, Italy. Massive pumps more than a hundred years old push out between 60 and 100 inches of rain the city recieves per year. To date they are still working fine and beat any other kind of "modern technology" available today.

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Copyright 2010 Michael Story Newell