Is it just me or was New Orleans founded in a bad place?

[Chocolatebison]

I always thought building a big major city below sea level near the coast was dumb idea.

[BayouBengal07]

1. Yes

It was founded on a swamp, below sea level, by the French in 1718 (ha, I remember my 3rd grade Louisiana History lessons!). They had to drain the swamp to build, hence the malaria and the above ground graves (if we buried our dead below ground, the coffins would float up in a rain because of the water table. Eew). Anyway, stupid move, but the city turned out great.

[charlyvi]

3. BayouBengal07....

are you going to be okay? Is Baton Rouge far enough from the center?

[BayouBengal07]

5. Yeah, it should be.

I'm in a dorm right now, so I'm probably in one of the safest places. Baton Rouge is usually pretty safe. I'll keep you posted though.

[charlyvi]

7. Keep safe!

Our prayers are with you!

:toast: :grouphug:

[BayouBengal07]

9. Well thanks.

But I'd rather pray for all the po' folk who can't get out of NOLA. I'm sitting pretty in my room, while they have to sit and wait for their house to be destroyed around them.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. It's an old town

New Orleans is one of the older American cities, remember. It was settled because of its location, and no thought was given to minor matters such as the soil being silt and prone to settling.

[ohio_liberal]

6. This is true of most older, larger cities

It was all about transporting goods in and out.

[etherealtruth]

4. we build in areas that are a "poor idea" all the time ...

...look at California.

N.O. is an old city and there are benefits to it's locationas well as dangers ...

At this point it is what it is ... the focus is rightly on the safety of the folk that live there.

[Endangered Specie]

8. Oh yes, lemme try to add some details...

When the city was first founded, many people there wanted to leave. It was lo lying, very hot and humid, lots of wildlife, and the Miss flooded everything on a somewhat regular basis.


However, there is one thing that kept it alive, MONEY. there was a ton of money to be made. When control of the city switched hands, everyone realized that purely because of its location (mouth of Miss.) there were infinite opprotunites to make a fortune, so the city stayed.

And eventually massive projects were conducted to build levees to prevent floodings, and a humongeous pump system put in place, no matter how expensive it got to keep the city, it could always make more than enough money to make up for the cost of protecting it.

[Nikia]

10. My grandfather always said stuff like that

Not necessarily about New Orleans, but whenever a low laying city near a river or coast experienced major flooding. He worked for the Soil Conservation Service.

[damntexdem]

11. If you want bad location, think of Santa Fe, NM:

I've always wondered why the Spanish built it so far off the interstate. ;-)