Chapter One- Introduction to NOLA

Different Areas of New Orleans (Google Images)

New Orleans is know by many nicknames: NOLA, The Big Easy, The Crescent City....It brings to mind different things like Jazz, Mardi Gras, Saints football, Creole cooking, Hurricane Katrina, countless films and television shows and many, many more images.

Few cities have so many different faces and appeal to people on so many different levels.

Lets begin with some facts from the US Census Bureau:

-New Orleans covers approximately 169.42 square miles (2010).
-Population of New Orleans as of 2010 was 343,829 with an estimated population for 2011 of
 360,740
-Of that population in 2010, 60.2%  were black and 33.0% were white, and Hispanics/Latinos made up 5.2%. The rest of the population with much smaller representative numbers were American Indian, Alaskan, Asian, and Persons reporting two or more races.

The website About.com Geography (http://geography.about.com/od/unitedstatesofamerica/a/neworleansgeography.htm)
has some interesting information regarding the city that can help a visitor or newcomer learn more about the history of New Orleans, such as:

1)The city of New Orleans was founded under the name La Nouvelle-Orleans on May 7, 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and the French Mississippi Company. The city was named after Phillipe d'Orleans, who was France's head of state at that time. In 1763, France lost control of the new colony to Spain with the Treaty of Paris. Spain then controlled the region until 1801, at which time it was passed back to France.

2)After becoming a part of the United States, New Orleans also began to play a large role in international relations as it developed into a large port. The port then played a role  in the Atlantic slave trade but also the exportation of different commodities and the importing  of international goods for the rest of the nation up the Mississippi River.

3)In August 2005, New Orleans was hit by the category five Hurricane Katrina and 80% of the city was flooded after a failure of the city's levees. 1,500 people died  in Hurricane Katrina and many of the city's population permanently relocated.

4)The climate of New Orleans is considered humid subtropical with mild winters and hot, humid summers. The average July high temperature for New Orleans is 91.1 F (32.8 C), while the average January low is 43.4F (6.3C).

5)New Orleans is home to two of the largest private universities in the United States-Tulane University an Loyola University New Orleans. public universities like the University of New Orleans are also within the city.