The internet is filled with things. Here is one of them.
Algiers, New Orleans2026 May 7noirnnola.com
Speaking of New Orleans places named after Northern African things, there's Algiers Point. The part of the city "cross the river" from the famous French Quarter and the other more-famous locales, Algiers and Algiers Point yet remain an intrinsic part of the Big Easy. But, is there any connection between the names Algiers and it's near neighbor Arabi?
Well, no. But it takes some digging to find that out, as none of the various Algiers, New Orleans histories online dip into its etymology. Even the official Algiers Historical Society, despite listing other place names the location has worn, doesn't touch upon how it acquired its current designation.
But the linked Noir 'N Nola article from 2020 does. There, it outlines the area's early and deep-rooted connection to the slave history of our country, as the site that many Africans first touched soil in North America, enslaved. As the author Cierra Chenier says:
It’s said that the very name comes from the view of the site from The Quarter -- the hundreds of Black figures seen from across the river reminded the Europeans of Algeria in Africa. Hence, the name Algiers. By 1731, 99% of Algiers’ population was enslaved, making it “the largest concentration of people of African ancestry in the entire region.”
Yikes.
The paper Chenier links in the above quote goes a slightly different direction, however. In it, Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella tells how the country of Algeria "had come to the attention of Americans, and particularly New Orleanians" during the 1815 Second Barbary War. The USA, incensed by Algerian piracy, dispatched Commodore Stephen Decatur to put an end to it, which he did by defeating the Dey. "The action made Decatur a national hero, this being the first major foreign engagement of the U.S. Years later, New Orleans would rename Levee Street to honor Decatur." Campanella further expounds:
Secondly, in the late 1820s, France ... sent troops to colonize Algiers. To New Orleans’ French-speaking population, who were pointedly proud of their mother country, the name of Algiers ... took on positive symbolic meaning—just the sort of thing marketers like to tap into. It’s unclear who first applied the names “Algiers” ... to [this] particular West Bank subdivision, but, then as now, catchy names help sell real estate, all the more if they instill a sense of pride. “Algiers” as a neighborhood name started appeared in newspapers in the 1830s... In this same era, a number of uptown streets were named to commemorate Napoleon’s conquests, with a principle avenue named for the emperor himself. That same intersection of ethnic pride with real estate marketing probably explains Algiers.
Speaking of New Orleans places named after Northern African things, there's Algiers Point. The part of the city "cross the river" from the famous French Quarter and the other more-famous locales, Algiers and Algiers Point yet remain an intrinsic part of the Big Easy. But, is there any connection between the names Algiers and it's near neighbor Arabi?
Well, no. But it takes some digging to find that out, as none of the various Algiers, New Orleans histories online dip into its etymology. Even the official Algiers Historical Society, despite listing other place names the location has worn, doesn't touch upon how it acquired its current designation.
But the linked Noir 'N Nola article from 2020 does. There, it outlines the area's early and deep-rooted connection to the slave history of our country, as the site that many Africans first touched soil in North America, enslaved. As the author Cierra Chenier says: Yikes.
The paper Chenier links in the above quote goes a slightly different direction, however. In it, Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella tells how the country of Algeria "had come to the attention of Americans, and particularly New Orleanians" during the 1815 Second Barbary War. The USA, incensed by Algerian piracy, dispatched Commodore Stephen Decatur to put an end to it, which he did by defeating the Dey. "The action made Decatur a national hero, this being the first major foreign engagement of the U.S. Years later, New Orleans would rename Levee Street to honor Decatur." Campanella further expounds: I am more convinced by this second etymology.