New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Louisiana was claimed by LaSalle in 1689 for French King Louis XIV and Queen Anna (hence, Louisianna). In 1718, Bienville established New Orleans and a year later, the first slave ship docked in the New Orleans’ port. Between 1762 and 1803, the city went to the Spanish as a result of the Seven Years’ War. The French reclaimed the territory in 1803 only to sell it to the Americans less than a month later. Louisiana became the 18th state to enter the union. Because of its history, New Orleans (and Louisiana in general) has a very colorful culture.

A special thanks to Free Tours by Foot who gave such great tours on such a wide array of topics.

French QuarterMarignyNew Orleans VoodooSt. Louis CemeteryGarden District & Lafayette CemetarySwamps and Alligators

Bernard Marigny’s family owned the New Orleans’ district known as the Marigny. When his father died in 1800, Bernard decided to sell off the land. Most of the sales were made to white Creoles who were buying a house for their African mistresses (as was required under plaçage). Because this area was historically inhabited by Africans, Jazz music was very prevalent. If you would like to hear some good music when you come to New Orleans, Frenchmen Street is the place to be.

Voodoo is a religion originally from western Africa. When the Africans were brought over to be slaves, they were forced to convert to Christianity. They realized that a lot of their practices and gods has a similar counterpart in the Christian religion. It’s for this reason that the voodoo religion was preserved in New Orleans. It wasn’t until Marie Leveau that the religion gained publicity.

We had the pleasure of taking an air-boat swamp tour through the Jean Lafitte National Park. The Louisiana Tour Company is great! I highly recommend.

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