by Umique Artison

Created on: February 25, 2009

"The Big Easy" is not just a drink on the beverage menu at your local Cajun restaurant; it is also the nickname of a place that is just as intoxicating. New Orleans, Louisiana's largest and one of America's oldest cities lies nestled within the heart of the Mississippi Delta. This radically distinctive city is robust in culture and diversity, most popular for its endemic cuisine, and is credited with being the birthplace of Jazz music. It is also well-known for its annual festival, the Mardi Gras.

New Orleans, the quilt of America, has a vast history of cultural weaving. However, some of the first threads were stitched by the Native Americans who originally inhabited these low-lying lands. They found it as a desirable means to carry their canoes and supplies overland between the waterways of Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. This portage later became a famous and vital trade route for French and European traders and explorers and the center of territorial battle. The key attraction to this land was its positioning to the port and the flood control that the morsels of high ground provided.

It wasn't until May 7, 1718 that the city of New Orleans (La Nouvelle-Orlans) was founded. The city was named after Philippe Charles, Duke of Orleans, Regent of France. He was the nephew of King Louis XIV and governed France after his uncle's death because the heir to the throne, King Louis XV was a minor at the time- only five years old. Philippe's reign was tagged as the Regence Period in French History.

Both the British and the French claimed territorial rites to this land as each wanted to broaden their economic stances through trading. After nine years of fighting, the controversy officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris although the preceding Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed in 1762. The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a surreptitious agreement in which France relinquished the Louisiana Territory to Spain but it was not implemented until 1764. After which the absence of Spanish government provoked a desire within the settlers to restore power to the French resulting in another territorial complication.

The Rebellion of 1768 was the failed attempt by the settlers in New Orleans to block the yield of power to the Spanish governor, Antonio de Ulloa, forcing him to flee back to Spain. His successor, Alejandro O'Reilly obtained a different outcome as he defeated the rebellion and established Spanish law in the region. New Orleans remained under

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