Books
1 Best Novel About French Colonial New Orleans, 1718–1763
Bestselling authors first, then star rating.
Period
French Colonial New Orleans, 1718–1763
1718–1763 CE
New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718 near the mouth of the Mississippi and became the administrative centre of Louisiana. Its population included European officials, soldiers, merchants, enslaved Africans and communities connected to the river and Gulf trades.
The settlement developed within a contested imperial world shared with Spanish, British and Indigenous powers. Smuggling, privateering, epidemics and unstable commercial fortunes shaped everyday life before France transferred Louisiana to Spain after the Seven Years’ War.
Historical fiction uses the period for stories of maritime trade, colonial law, cultural mixture and competing loyalties. The Pirate Bride places a former privateer and Spanish heiress in the city in 1725.
