The standards of the Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of France and the 15 stared flag of the United States, three rulers of New Orleans in its first century of existence.
In 1718 (tradition says on May 7th), the French Mississippi Company founded La Nouvelle-Orleans as a French colony to control the mouth of the Mississippi River as well as an entry point to the greater Louisiana Territory. French adventurer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville is credited for choosing the site that eventually became the shipping hub of the Gulf Coast. Its strategic importance was was not lost on the powers of the day and as a result of the disastrous Seven Years War, France was forced to cede New Orleans to the Kingdom of Spain in the 1763 Treaty of Paris.
By 1803, Spain and Napoleonic France were allies and the Spanish returned New Orleans to their former owner. But Napoleon was at war and in need of money, he found a ready buyer in the up-and-coming new power in North America-the United States. President Jefferson was quick to accept the price of fifteen million dollars for not only New Orleans but also the entire of the New France-Louisiana Territory (an area in the range of 828,000 square miles). For the price of around eighteen dollars a square mile, the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, would go down as one of the greatest land purchases of all time.
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