Natural Disaster—2

Abstract

In 1718, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville created a settlement on a sliver of marshland between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. It proved to have both economic and strategic value. Being on a natural floodplain and prone to heavy rainfall, only the higher ground was used at first. Much of the area between the river and lake was a geographic bowl. No sane person would consider building a city there.