1718     New Orleans established by Jean-Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.

 

              Earliest Black presence recorded includes Jorgé and Marie, enslaved to Bienville, as well  as

              the earliest recorded free man, Jean- Baptiste César, a laborer.

 

1719    First major shipment of African captives arrives aboard the vessel l’Aurore (“Dawn”) carrying

             cargo of 200 from the West African port of Ouida in present-day Benin. Slave insurrections

             follow in 1719, 1720, 1721, and 1722.

 

1721    LeBlond de la Tour, engineer under supervision of Adrien de Pauger, draws up plans for city

             of New Orleans, comprising what is now called the Vieux Carré.

 

             Charles Morand employee of the Company of the Indies, establishes the city’s first major

             commercial concern, a brickyard on Bayou Road (now Governor Nicholls Street), near the

             center of what will become the historic African American community of Faubourg Tremé.

 

1722   Morand buys the property from Co. of the Indies, and builds a brick-making factory bound-                  ed by Rampart, Claiborne, Bayou Road/ Gov. Nicholls.

 

1724   Code Noir (Black Code) instituted, outlining governance of slavery. Le Code Noir requires, in

             particular, that torture and execution be carried out not by slavemasters but by a colonial

             government appointee; that the enslaved be instructed in the Catholic faith; and that no

             labor be required or condoned on Sundays, establishing the so-called “free Sundays” of New

            Orleans French, Spanish and American slavery systems.

 

1725    Free Congo-man Louis/Luis Congo is hired as the colony official torturer and executioner.     

            Congo’s published schedule of fees includes, for instance, a charge of 10 livres for a whipping

            or branding, 30 for hanging, 40 for breaking on the wheel.

 

1756   Morand (Spanish alias, Pablo Moro) extends land holdings to include total area bound by

            present-day Gov. Nicholls Street, St. Bernard Avenue, Galvez and Rampart Streets.

 

1762   Spanish Colonial Era begins. With Treaty of Fountainbleau, France cedes Louisiana Territory 

            & Île d’Orléans (Isle of New Orleans) to Spain. 80% + of land situated between Dumaine  

            Street and St. Bernard Avenue and from Rampart to Broad is owned and occupied by free  

            Blacks.

 

1771    San Luis Lanuitte, nègre libre, establishes residence on Bayou Road at the Bridge of the

            Washerwomen.

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1777   9–10 February. Local insurrection described by Henríques Desprez in a letter to Spanish     

           Crown dated 24 February, offering advice on averting future uprisings and slaughter by  the                 enslaved.

 

           Juan and Margarita Bautista, negros libres, purchase 2 arpents of land from Lanuitte, which

           they later pass on to son and daughter, Francisco and Francisca.

 

1780 Rebels establish armed maroon colony in swamp east of New Orleans, from which they or- 

           ganize raids on the city under direction of Juan San Malo, and also develop independent trade

           with local businesses.