<Li> The Big Easy was possibly a reference by musicians in the early 20th century to the relative ease of finding work there . It may have originated in the Prohibition era, when the city was considered one big speakeasy due to the government's inability to control alcohol sales in open violation of the 18th Amendment . </Li> <Li> The City that Care Forgot has been used since at least 1938, and refers to the outwardly easy - going, carefree nature of the residents . </Li> <P> La Nouvelle - Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in Spring of 1718 (7 May has become the traditional date to mark the anniversary, but the actual day is unknown) by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha . It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time . His title came from the French city of Orléans . </P> <P> The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris (1763). During the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River . Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully launched a southern campaign against the British from the city in 1779 . Nueva Orleans (the name of New Orleans in Spanish) remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted briefly to French rule . Nearly all of the surviving 18th - century architecture of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter) dates from the Spanish period, notably excepting the Old Ursuline Convent . </P>

When was the city of new orleans established