“New Orleans – A Geopolitical Outlook”
October 2005
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In the media furor over the devastation in New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina’s wake, much attention has been paid to the loss of its great cultural heritage—the city of Bourbon St. and the birth of Jazz, Louis Armstrong and King Oliver, the Meters and the Neville Brothers. As far as present-day (pre-Katrina) America was concerned, New Orleans was a nostalgia-haven and tourist trap. One would hardly think that its significance might be far less romantic, and distinctly geopolitical.
New Orleans is the largest port in the United States. It is situated at the mouth of the Mississippi river above the Gulf of Mexico, where it is uniquely suited to process goods to and from the Caribbean and the Atlantic and, after the Panama Canal was finished in 1914, the Pacific Oceans. While coastal access is hardly a precious commodity in the US, no other port has a conduit like the Mississippi—the arterial lifeline of America—and its countless tributaries, connecting it directly to the heartland of the country.
One could literally say that, without New Orleans, America would never have had a functional economy. Its significance was not lost on, among others, President Thomas Jefferson when he first negotiated its purchase from Napoleonic France. For years under Spanish jurisdiction, under which it was an open port, it fell back into French hands in 1800, much to Jefferson’s alarm. He realized that the city could easily be used as a bargaining chip against the US, for which New Orleans was precious. He arranged the purchase of the entire Louisiana Territory in April 1803, granting America much of what is now the mid-western United States for a mere $15 million—a bargain to be sure, but without New Orleans it would have been worthless.
Eleven years later, it would be the site of the famous Battle of New Orleans, paving the way to the presidency for its victor, Andrew Jackson. From a patriotic angle, the battle is famous for granting a veneer of victory to the otherwise ambiguous War of 1812 against the British, despite actually taking place two weeks after the war was officially over. More importantly, it kept New Orleans out of the hands of the British who would not have been overly inclined to return such a geopolitical treasure.
In later years, its protection would be a significant spur to those urging war against Mexico, and during World War I, it would be the focus of a German U-boat campaign. Until 9/11, the US had not faced a serious threat to homeland territory in a very long time, and the importance of a single city was not as apparent. If Washington is America’s political center and New York its financial one, then New Orleans is its most significant economic hub with its oil refineries and port complex. Shipping remains by far the cheapest method of transport for agricultural and steel products among countless others.
While the US is far from an agrarian-based economy, it still requires the constant flow of goods to and from its heartland. After Katrina’s destruction, which thankfully left most of the port itself untouched, certain basics like shipping infrastructure and transit and above all easy access to both the outside world and America’s immense territory appear vital and quite fragile. For while politics and technology may change, geography never does.