New Orleans

**New Orleans** is a city in Louisiana, which is a state in the United States. It is a major port city, at the mouth of the Mississippi river. It is the biggest city in Louisiana.

## History
The city began as the capital of Louisiana (New France), part of the first French colonial empire at the mouth of the Mississippi River. It became a territory of the United States when President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It became one of the world's great seaports. All the land is low, originally just a short vertical distance above sea level.  In the last three hundred years, the city has sunk slowly into the marshy soil. Large portions of New Orleans are now below sea level. A system of many pumps, dikes, sea walls, and levees were built.

The Battle of New Orleans was fought here in 1815. The capture of New Orleans in 1863 was an important step in the defeat of the Confederacy in the American Civil War

Over half of the grain that is sent by ship to other countries, comes first by barge through the Port of New Orleans. The grains are grown in the farming states bordering the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, and Ohio Rivers. Much of the crude oil that is made into gasoline and diesel fuel is brought to New Orleans for oil refinery and distribution to other parts of the United States by barge or oil pipeline. Also, there are many oil well platforms nearby, in the Gulf of Mexico.

### Hurricane Katrina
On August 29, 2005, New Orleans was affected by Hurricane Katrina.  The special systems built to protect the city failed in several ways. It is estimated that more than three quarters (3/4) of New Orleans was under water in early September 2005.  Sewer, phone, electric and fresh water systems failed.  Many people drowned. Many homes were completely covered with water.  Important records, some from the French period of the 18th century were destroyed.

For years, many people believed that a flood in New Orleans would happen.  A very serious flood happened several hundred miles upstream, on the Mississippi Delta, when heavy rains fell in 1927. The hardships from that flood led many people to move away. Many moved to Chicago.

After Hurricane Katrina, many people who lived in the flooded city moved to other places in the US. Many people were afraid to move back. Their jobs and homes were  gone and their possessions were lost. The people who could move back spread to many other states. Texas received the most flood victims. Many volunteers and charities are helping the flood victims to relocate to new homes and, at the same time, repair homes and services in this city. Several years after Katrina, New Orleans still had much fewer people than it did before the hurricane.

### Renaming of public schools 
In 1992, the School Board announced plans to rename schools named after owners of slaves, if the parents, teachers, and children of each school approved. Other public schools renamed, not directly relevant to the war, were originally named for Marie Couvent (a black slave owner), George Washington, William C. C. Claiborne, Samuel J. Peters, Étienne de Boré, William O. Rogers ("a general school superintendent who didn't believe blacks should be educated after the 5th grade"), and Edward Douglass White, Jr., a Supreme Court chief justice who voted to uphold the "separate but equal" doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson.
* Jefferson Davis Elementary School renamed in 1993 for Ernest "Dutch" Morial, New Orleans' first African-American mayor.
* P.G.T. Beauregard Junior High School was renamed Thurgood Marshall Middle School, after the first black Supreme Court justice.
* Robert E. Lee Elementary School renamed for Ronald McNair, the black astronaut killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion.
* J. P. Benjamin School, named for Jefferson Davis's secretary of war, was renamed for African-American educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.
* Charles Gayarre Elementary School, named for Charles Gayarré, a financial supporter of the Confederacy, was renamed after New Orleans civil rights leader Oretha Castle Haley.
* Francis T. Nicholls High School, named for the Confederate general and Governor of Louisiana, was renamed Frederick Douglass High School after the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass.
* Adolph Meyer School, named for a Confederate officer and later a congressman, was renamed for the abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
* Benjamin Palmer School, named for a pro-slavery pastor influential in Louisiana's decision to secede and join the Confederacy, was renamed Lorraine V. Hansberry Elementary School, after the African-American playwright who wrote *A Raisin in the Sun.*

## Culture 
New Orleans has a large African American, Creole and French population. Voodoo, brought by African slaves, is practiced in the city.

New Orleans is known for its French culture, French architecture, Creole and Cajun cuisine such as gumbo, po' boy sandwiches, Étouffée, baguette, and jambalaya. They also celebrate Mardi Gras every year.

## References
## Other websites