page_title: History of New Orleans
section_title: Early 19th century: a rapidly growing commercial center
hierarchical_section_title: History of New Orleans / 19th century / Early 19th century: a rapidly growing commercial center
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 71000360 Summary The 200 year old Pitot House along Bayou St. John, New Orleans. Unflooded by Hurricane Katrina aftermath; only some wind damage to fence visible.
context_page_description: The history of New Orleans, Louisiana, traces the city's development from its founding by the French, through its period under Spanish control, then briefly back to French rule before being acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. In the 19th century, New Orleans was the largest port in the South, exporting most of the nation's cotton output and other products to Western Europe and New England. It was the largest and most important city in the South; thus it was an early target for capture by the Union during the Civil War. With its rich and unique cultural and architectural heritage, it remains a major destination for tourism, conventions, and major sports events, even after the major destruction and loss of life resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
context_section_description: The next dozen years were marked by the beginnings of self-government in city and state; by the excitement attending the Aaron Burr conspiracy (in the course of which, in 1806–1807, General James Wilkinson practically put New Orleans under martial law); and by the War of 1812. From early days the city was noted for its cosmopolitan polyglot population and mixture of cultures. It grew rapidly, with influxes of Americans, African, French and Creole French (people of French descent born in the Americas) and Creoles of color (people of mixed European and African ancestry), many of the latter two groups fleeing from the violent revolution in Haiti.
  The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue established the second republic in the Western Hemisphere and the first led by blacks. Refugees, both white and free people of color (affranchis or gens de couleur libres), arrived in New Orleans, often bringing slaves with them.  While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out additional free black men, French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population. As more refugees were allowed into the Territory of Orleans, Haitian émigrés who had gone to Cuba also arrived. Nearly 90 percent of the new immigrants settled in New Orleans. The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites; 3,102 free persons of African descent; and 3,226 additional enslaved individuals to the city, doubling its French-speaking population. An 1809-1810 migration brought thousands of white francophone refugees (deported by officials in Cuba in response to Bonapartist schemes in Spain).
caption: Historic house along Bayou St. John, home of the second mayor of the American city of New Orleans
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