Talli Ortiz

New Orleans: The Past Is The Present

                        Colonization is something unheard of today, it does not happen, unless space travel is considered, but that is another idea completely.  Instead, the world is seeing a different form of colonization occur, internally displaced people.  According to the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, internally displaced people “are individuals or groups of people who have been forced to flee their homes to escape armed conflict, generalized violence and human rights abuses.  Millions of other civilians who have been made homeless by natural disasters are also classified as IDP’s” (http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/405ef8c64.pdf). 

When I first began thinking about what to write for my research posting my mind immediately went to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  However, I realized that I did not know much about New Orleans and its history.  The purchase of Louisiana from the French by the president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, is about all that people know when it comes to New Orleans, unless you are a resident.  So, where did New Orleans come from and why is it populated by so many different cultures?

Being a major port, New Orleans, had many different influences on its region and according to Edna F. Campbell’s essay, New Orleans In Early Days, “New Orleans became in the early part of the eighteenth century not only the commercial center for the settlement in the Mississippi delta, but also the point about which population began to concentrate” (31).  Obviously, the French owned New Orleans, but “did not consider themselves Louisianans but Frenchmen on a brief sojourn from home” (32).  However, because of the immense amount of commerce (lumber, livestock, rice, indigo, tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane to name a few) that took place in the city, people devised new ways to continue living in “a vast sink in which grew a variety of tall grasses and reeds” (Campbell 33-34; 31).

New Orleans' growth continued even as the Louisiana Purchase took place.  For the United States, New Orleans “commanded the trade of the Mississippi River system”; however, as a place it had “…had many disadvantages.  It was low; and the inhabitants, especially during the weeks of early summer, lived in fear of the river.  Breaks in the levee were frequent…Problems of sewage disposal and water supply were likewise serious” (420).  This shows that New Orleans inhabitants of French descent were slowly adjusting to life out on the “swamp” (Campbell, New Orleans At the Time of the Louisiana Purchase).  While people saw New Orleans as a difficult place to live, it still held appeal because of the port.

            Most people know that the French were the ones to settle most of Louisiana; however, there is some German influence on the culture of New Orleans.  The German population doubled between 1853 and the beginning of the Civil War (Herminghouse).  In the essay, The German Secrets of New Orleans, Patricia Herminghouse points out that though the Germans in New Orleans were not nearly as outspoken as in other liberal German cities and “despite the lack of German civic leadership, the city also had its share of middle-class citizens” (4).  The German culture was subtle, but being of the working-class, they were influential in the growth of New Orleans.

            In conclusion, New Orleans is a complex city and trying to narrow its development down is difficult.  Even though only the Germans and French were discussed here, there were several other influences, including the Spanish and slaves.  People obviously cling to New Orleans even in horrible situations.  A current example is when Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees broke again (just as they did when the city was being colonized).  New Orleans residents were displaced and had to colonize in other areas, but are now returning to re-colonize New Orleans.

Works Cited

Campbell, Edna F.  “New Orleans at the Time of the Louisiana Purchase.”  Geographical Review.  11.3 (Jul 1921): 414-425.

---.  “New Orleans in Early Days.”  Geographical Review.  10.1 (Jul 1920): 31-36.

Herminghouse, Patricia.  “The German Secrets of New Orleans.”  German Studies Review.  27.1 (Feb. 2004): 1-16.

“Internally Displaced People:  Questions and Answers.”  UNHCR.org.  Sept. 2007.  United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  19 March 2008 < http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/405ef8c64.pdf>  6-7.