Area description continued:
New Orleans encompasses 4,190 square miles or 10,850 square kilometers and is approximately 90 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. Step back in time and take a stroll in the French Quarter and Jackson Square or visit the plantations and take a swamp tour. The architecture, geography and ambiance of New Orleans is unique. In 1718 on the banks of the Mississippi, Sieur de Bienville, a French Canadian, and John Law, the Scottish Minister of Finance for France chose this location to create a new French city; they christened it after the new Regent of France, Duc d'Orleans. Today's French Quarter is the city they mapped out with only a triangle and T-square. After the fire of 1788, New Orleans was rebuilt and quickly grew to a prosperous port city that opened the interior of North America to world trade. Today New Orleans is a major tourist, business, and cultural center for the entire Gulf Region. Population by Parish: Orleans 476,625, Jefferson 455,043, St. Bernard 64,097, St. Charles 47,031, St. John