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New Orleans
A river-delta city largely below sea level
New Orleans sits in the delta of the Mississippi River, on a crescent of slightly higher ground between the great river and Lake Pontchartrain, near where the Mississippi finally reaches the Gulf of Mexico. The French founded it in 1718 on the natural levee — the only dry land in a vast swamp — because whoever held this spot controlled all traffic on the river that drains the center of the continent. That command of the river mouth made it one of America's great ports.
Much of the city lies below sea level, sinking on the soft delta soils and ringed by levees and pumps that hold back the river, the lake, and the sea. Surrounded by swamp, marsh, and water, built where a continent's greatest river meets the Gulf, New Orleans is acutely vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding — as Katrina showed in 2005 — yet its position keeps it a vital port.
That improbable geography — a bowl below sea level between river and lake — produced a singular city, its French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean roots giving rise to Creole culture, jazz, and a way of life found nowhere else in America.