Answer:
Having an accessible port would be a central priority for settlement in the 17th century. Access to food sources and natural building materials would also be vitally important. The optimum location for a colony would have access to the Gulf of Mexico, but inland on a river that would provide natural protection from blockading or attacking ships while also providing alluvial soil for farming, access to lumber resources, fish or seafood, and other plant and animal food sources. New Orleans is the best location for a colony, as it has access to the Gulf but is also upriver and protected, is surrounded by swamp ecosystems that provide lumber, animal and seafood resources, as well as freshwater for necessary life activities, such as cooking or bathing, and fish for additional food sources. The floodplain soil of the Mississippi delta would also provide an excellent location of farming.