Q 01/05

Which town did New Orleans replace as the capital of French Louisiana?

A) Biloxi

B) Natchez

C) Pensacola

D) Natchitoches

Answer · why

A) Biloxi

Biloxi: soon after the capital moved in 1722, a hurricane blew down most of New Orleans, and it was rebuilt on the grid that is today's French Quarter...

Q 02/05

New Orleans's namesake, the Duke of Orléans, ruled France as regent for which boy king?

A) Louis XIII

B) Louis XIV

C) Louis XV

D) Louis XVI

Answer · why

C) Louis XV

Louis XV: his parents and his only surviving brother all died in 1712, which left the two-year-old next in line for the throne.

Q 03/05

Who founded New Orleans?

A) René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle

B) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

C) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

D) Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

Answer · why

C) Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville chose the site partly because it was high ground on a sharp bend of the river.

Q 04/05

Before Europeans arrived, the Choctaw name for the area, Bulbancha, translated as what?

A) Place of the crescent

B) Muddy waters

C) Where the river bends

D) Land of many tongues

Answer · why

D) Land of many tongues

Land of many tongues: the site was a trading hub where many Native peoples with different languages met to trade.

Q 05/05

What do New Orleanians call the grassy median running down the middle of a boulevard?

A) The neutral ground

B) The banquette

C) The batture

D) The esplanade

Answer · why

A) The neutral ground

The neutral ground: on Canal Street, the wide median once divided the Creole French Quarter from the new American sector upriver.