"Few towns in the world possess such a medley of population."

Alexander Mackay, Travels in the United States, 1846-1847

Immigration From Many Lands

During the city's first forty years, French immigrants arrived in New Orleans from both Canada (from the area now known as Quebec) and France. The earliest to arrive were clergymen, administrators, and social outcasts: criminals, vagrants, and women "of immoral life."1 This latter group was sent, in particular, to make the colony appear prosperous by simply enlarging its population.

Around 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War, refugees fleeing the British from Nova Scotia began to arrive in New Orleans. These "Acadian" people became known as "Cajuns," as they settled and farmed in the bayous surrounding New Orleans. Settlers also came from the other direction, fleeing Saint Dominique (Haiti) after a slave uprising around 1790. This swell of refugees, along with the Americans who moved into the city and region after 1803, made the population of New Orleans rise dramatically to almost 25,000 in 1810. The population virtually doubled within the first decade of the nineteenth century.2

Slaves were also brought into New Orleans, primarily from the western coasts of Africa and later from the French Islands to work the indigo and rice plantations. Slaves were used to mitigate the labor shortage due to slow immigration. This combination of slaves and free people of color contributed to blacks representing 50% of New Orleans' population by 1800.3

The Spanish were the other major group to settle New Orleans beginning in the 1760s. The installation of the Spanish colonial government in 1763 brought many immigrants with it, and they continued arriving well into the nineteenth century. Post World War II, there was another influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants from Cuba, Honduras, and the Canary Islands.

There were fairly significant numbers of immigrants from other parts of Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Germans, Irish, and Italians founded their own churches, schools, social clubs, and other organizations, thereby adding their contribution to and influence on the city around them.  

Opening quote: Alexander Mackay, The Western World; or, Travels in the United States in 1846-47, Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1849.

1. George F Reinecke, "The National and Cultural Groups of New Orleans" in Louisiana Folklife, edited by Nicholas R. Spitzer (Baton Rouge: The Louisiana Folklife Program, 1985). Back

2. Samuel Wilson Jr. and Leonard V. Huber, The St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans, (New Orleans: St. Louis Cathedral, 1963), p.21. Back

3. Donnald McNabb and Lee Madere, A History of New Orleans (New Orleans: Lee Madere, 1997), p.8. Back