Louisiana
Louisiana is a
southern state of the
United States of America.
It uses the U.S. postal abbreviation
LA. The state is bordered to the west by the state of
Texas, to the north by
Arkansas, to the east by the state of
Mississippi, and to the south by the
Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has no declared "official language", but its law recognizes both
English and
French.
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Louisiana State Quarter (reverse)
Louisiana State Quarter
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History
Louisiana was long inhabited by
Native American tribes before the arrival of Europeans. The lasting mark of the Native Americans can be seen even today in the names used in Louisiana, such as Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles Parish).
What follows is a partial list, using current parish boundaries as rough approximations of locations.
- The Atakapa were found in southwestern Louisiana in the parishes of Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu.
- The Chitimachas occupied the southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St Mary, Lower St. Martin, Terrebone, LaFourche, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.
- The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, were found in points directly north of the Chitimachas, in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany.
- The Houma tribe, was found in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee parishes; Ironically about 100 miles north of current location of the town named after them.
- Portions of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River were home to the Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation.
- The northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, and East and West Carroll were occupied by the Tunica tribe.
- The remainder of current day central and north Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation.
The first
European explorers to visit what is now Louisiana was a
Spanish expedition in 1528 led by
Panfilo de Narváez which located the mouth of the
Mississippi River. Some 13 years later Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed through the region. Thereafter the region was long neglected by the Spanish authorities, and the next explorers were
French. Louisiana was named by the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle in honour of
Louis XIV in 1682. The first permanent settlement was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699.
The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed a great region of land on both sides of the
Mississippi River and north to
Canada. Most of the settlement concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, with trading outposts and mission settlements in the
Illinois Country, as far north as
Peoria, Illinois and a number of settlements in the area around near present-day
Saint Louis, Missouri.
See also: French colonization of the Americas
Initially
Biloxi, Mississippi functioned as the capital city of the colony; from 1722 on New Orleans fulfilled that role.
Most of the territory to the east of the Mississippi was lost to
Great Britain in the
French and Indian War, except for the area around New Orleans and the parishes around
Lake Pontchartrain. The rest of Louisiana became a colony of
Spain by the Treaty of Fountainebleau of 1762.
In 1800 France's Napoleon Bonaparte re-acquired Louisiana from Spain in the
Treaty of San Ildefonso, although this was kept secret for some two years.
In 1803 the United States purchased the French province of Louisiana (''see
Louisiana Purchase) and divided it into two territories: the
Orleans Territory (which became the state of Louisiana in 1812) and the
District of Louisiana (which consisted of all the land not included in Orleans Territory). The
Florida Parishes were annexed from Spanish
West Florida by proclamation of President
James Madison in 1810. The western boundary of Louisiana with Spanish Texas remained in dispute until the
Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, with the
Sabine Free State serving as a neutral buffer zone as well as a haven for criminals.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France, including: the use of a civil law legal system, based on the Louisiana Civil Code, which is similar to the
Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a
common law legal system derived from England), the term "
parishes" being used to describe the state's sub-divisions as opposed to "
counties", etc.
In 1849 the capital moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
Donaldsonville,
Opelousas, and
Shreveport have also briefly served as the seat of governments of Louisiana.
In the
American Civil War Louisiana seceded from the Union on
January 26, 1861. New Orleans was captured by Federal troops on
April 25, 1862. As some portion of the population had Union sympathies, unusually the portions of Louisiana under Federal control were recognized as a state within the Union and elected representatives who were sent to the congress in
Washington, D.C. through the rest of the war.
Law and Government
The
capital of Louisiana is
Baton Rouge. Its governor is
Kathleen Blanco (Democrat) and its two U.S. senators are
Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and
David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven U.S. Congressmen, five of which are Republicans, two of which are Democrats.
Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is based on Roman, Spanish, and French civil law as opposed to English
common law. Technically, it is known as "Civil Law," or the "Civilian System." It is often incorrectly referred to as the "Code Napoleon" or The
Napoleonic Code. It is important to note that the Louisiana Civil Code and the French Civil Code, often referred to as the Napoleonic Code, came into existence at roughly the same time. Louisiana was never governed by the Napoleonic Code.
Great differences still exist between Louisiana Civil Law and the Common Law found in her 49 sister states. While most of the differences are now found in verbiage, it is important to note that the "Civilian" tradition is still deeply rooted in all aspects of Louisiana law. Property, contractual, and family law are still mostly based on traditional
Roman legal thinking and have little in common with English law.
Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in using a
runoff in state, local, and congressional elections. All candidates run in an open
primary on Election Day, in which multiple candidates from the same party may be on the ballot. If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This runoff does not take into account party identification. Therefore it is common for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. All other states use the
First Past the Post electoral system to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials.
See: List of Louisiana Governors, Napoleon Bonaparte
Geography
Map of Louisiana
See: List of Louisiana parishes
Topography
The surface of the state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands, and the alluvial and coast and swamp regions. The alluvial regions, including the low swamps and coast lands, cover an area of about 20,000 square miles; they lie principally along the
Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 miles and ultimately emptying into the
Gulf of Mexico, the
Red River, the
Ouachita River and its branches, and other minor streams. The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles, and along the other streams it averages about 10 miles. The Mississippi flows upon a ridge formed by its own deposits, from which the lands incline toward the low swamps beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile. The lands along other streams present very similar features. These alluvial lands are never inundated save when breaks occur in the levees by which they are protected against the floods of the Mississippi and its tributaries. These floods, however, do not occur annually, and they may be said to be exceptional. With the maintenances of strong levees these alluvial lands would enjoy perpetual immunity from inundation. The uplands and contiguous hill lands have an area of more than 25,000 square miles, and they consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea-level range from 10 feet at the coast and swamp lands to 50 and 60 feet at the prairie and alluvial lands. In the uplands and hills the elevations rise from 60 feet to something under 500 feet in north Louisiana, where the greatest altitudes are to be found.
Besides the navigable rivers already named (some of which are called bayous), there are the
Sabine, forming the western boundary, and the
Pearl, the eastern boundary, the
Calcasieu, the Mermentau, the
Vermilion, the
Teche, the
Atchafalaya, the Boeuf, the
Lafourche, the Courtableau, the D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas, the Amite, the Tchefuncta, the Tickfaw, the Matalbany, and a number of other streams of lesser note, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles in length, which is unequalled in the United States and probably in the world. The state also has 1,060 square miles of land-locked bays, 1,700 square miles of inland lakes, and a river surface of over 500 square miles.
Geology
The underlying strata of the state are of
Cretaceous formation, and are covered by alluvial deposits of
Tertiary and post-Tertiary origin. A large part of Louisiana is the creation and product of the
Mississippi River. It was originally covered by an arm of the sea, and has been built up by the silt carried down the valley by the great river.
There are proposed plans to extend
Interstate 69 to the
Texas/
Mexico border, which will go through north-eastern Louisiana. Also,
Interstate 49 is slated to be expanded north into
Arkansas and east along
Interstate 10 to
New Orleans, replacing part of
U.S. Highway 90.
United States highways
| North-south routes | East-west routes |
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Economy
The total gross state product in 1999 for Louisiana was $129 billion, placing it 24
th in the nation. Its Per Capita Personal Income was $23,334, 45
th in the nation. The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood, cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, food processing, transportation equipment, paper products, and tourism.
Demographics
See also: List of famous people from Louisiana; List of Louisiana musicians; Music of Louisiana
As of 2003, the state's population was 4,496,334, including approximately 200,000 native French-speakers.
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 62.5% White
- 32.5% Black
- 2.4% Hispanic
- 1.2% Asian
- 0.6% American Indian
- 1.1% Mixed race
The five largest ancestries in the state are: African American (32.5%), French/French Canadian (16.2%), American (10.1%), German (7.1%), Irish (7%).
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Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Louisiana are:
- Protestant – 47%
- Roman Catholic – 47%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – 0%
- Non-Religious – 3%
The three largest Protestant denominations in Louisiana are: Baptist (29% of the total state population), Methodist (5%), Pentecostal (2%).
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Important cities and towns
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;Population > 10,000
(urbanized area)
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;Population > 100,000
(urbanized area)
;Population > 1,000,000
(urbanized area)
;New Orleans suburbs
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Top 10 richest places in Louisiana
Ranked by
per capita income
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Mound: $92,200
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Oak Hills Place: $34,944
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Elmwood: $34,329
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Eden Isle: $31,798
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Gilliam: $30,264
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Shenandoah: $29,722
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Westminster: $28,087
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River Ridge: $27,088
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Prien: $26,537
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Mandeville: $26,420
:''For more see the complete list of places''
Education
Colleges and universities
Professional sports teams
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey
- Minor League Hockey
- *New Orleans Brass (1997 - 2003) - ECHL
- *Louisiana IceGators - ECHL
- *Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - CHL
Two separate historically Francophone communities exist in Louisiana.
- The ancestors of Creoles generally came to Louisiana directly from France or from the French colonies in the Caribbean and settled in New Orleans or in South Eastern Louisiana.
- The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-descended people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forced all of the citizens to take a pledge of allegiance. Most Acadians declined and emigrated from Canada, most of them fleeing to the South Western portion of Louisiana, centered in the region around Lafayette.
For almost 20 years there was only one amusement park in Louisiana, and it was called Hamel's Amusement Park.
References
Sturdevent, William C. (1967):
Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks, Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States).
See also
External links
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Category:U.S. states