Creole

Creole may refer to:

Languages

People

Haitian Creole

Haitian Creole (/ˈheɪʃən ˈkriːoʊl/; Haitian Creole: kreyòl,pronounced: [kɣejɔl]) is a French-based creole language spoken by 9.6–12 million people worldwide, and the only language of more than 95% of Haitians. It is a creole language based largely on 18th-century French with influences from Portuguese, Spanish, Taíno, and West African languages. Haitian Creole emerged from contact between French settlers and African slaves during the Atlantic Slave Trade in the French colony of Saint‑Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti). Haitians are the largest creole-speaking community in the world.

Using and teaching in Haitian Creole—which is not mutually comprehensible with French—has been contentious since at least the 19th century: where Haitians saw French as a sign of colonialism, Kreyòl was maligned by francophone elites as a miseducated or poor person’s French. Until the late 20th century, Haitian presidents spoke only French to their subjects, and until the 2000s, all instruction at Haitian elementary schools was in French—a foreign language to at least 95% of the students.

New Orleans

New Orleans (/nuː ˈɔːrlɪnz/,/nuː ˈɔːrliənz/, /nuː ɔːrˈliːnz/, or /ˈnɔːrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃]) is a major United States port and the largest city and the center of the metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502.

The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and strongly influenced by their European culture. It is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz), and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras, dating to French colonial times. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" in the United States.