Not surprisingly, the 'Big Easy' has a long, fascinating history. Western explorers, most notably Rene-Robert Cavelier, better known as Sieur de La Salle, first explored the Mississippi River in the late 17th century. It didn't take long - 1718, as a matter of fact - before the French decided that founding a port city where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico would be a strategic and commercial advantage. Laid out five feet below sea level, Nouvelle Orléans would prosper over the next several decades no matter whose auspices - France, Spain, France again, and, eventually, the United States - its residents found themselves under. | 
