Louisiana (i / l uː ˌ iː z i ˈ æ n ə / or i / ˌ l uː z i ˈ æ n ə /; French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in: État de Louisiane, [lwizjan] ( listen); Louisiana Creole Louisiana Creole is a French Creole language spoken by the mixed[citation needed] Louisiana Creole people of the state of Louisiana. The language consists of elements of French, Native American, Spanish, and West African roots: Léta de la Lwizyàn) is a state A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is located in the southern region The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans, early European settlements of English, Ulster Scots, of the United States of America ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. Its capital is Baton Rouge Baton Rouge (pronounced /ˌbætən ˈruːʒ/; French: Bâton-Rouge [bɑtɔ̃ ʁuʒ] ; Choctaw: Itta Homma; "red stick") is the capital and second-largest city of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and has an estimated population of 227,017. The metropolitan area, known as Greater Baton Rouge, has an estimated population and largest city is New Orleans New Orleans (pronounced /njuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnjuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally [nuː ˈɔrlənz] or [ˈnɔrlənz]; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area, (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner) has a. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes The U.S. state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes in the same way that 48 of the other states of the United States are divided into counties, which are local governments equivalent to counties The second class of county-equivalents is unique to Alaska. Most of the land area of that state has no organized county-level government. The Alaska state government calls the entire portion of the state that is not part of a borough the Unorganized Borough. In 1970, the Census Bureau, in cooperation with the state, divided the Unorganized Borough. The largest parish by population is Jefferson Parish Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna, and the largest by land area is Cameron Parish Cameron Parish is the parish with the most land area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Cameron and as of 2000, the population was 9,991. It is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural Multiculturalism is the acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighborhoods, cities or nations. In this context, multiculturalists advocate extending equitable status to distinct ethnic and religious groups without, multilingual Multilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. The generic term for a multilingual person is polyglot heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth century, first in Europe, and from the nineteenth century, Spanish The culture of Spain is a European culture based on a variety of influences. These include the pre-Roman cultures, mainly the celts and the Iberians cultures; but mainly in the period of Roman influences. In the areas of language and religion, the Ancient Romans left a lasting legacy. The subsequent course of Spanish history also added elements to and African The main split is between North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, which is in turn divided into a great number of ethnic and tribal cultures. The main ethno-linguistic divisions are Afro-Asiatic , Niger-Congo (mostly Bantu) in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-Saharan in parts of the Sahara and the Sahel and parts of Eastern Africa, and Khoisan ( cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of current Louisiana State had been a Spanish The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the first of four viceroyalties created to govern Spain's territories in North and Central America. It was ruled by a viceroy from Mexico City who governed many territories on behalf of the King of Spain. The Viceroyalty of New Spain lasted from 1535 to 1821, and was one of two early viceroyalties established in and French Louisiana or French Louisiana was the name of an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682-1763 and 1800-03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV of France, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. It originally covered an expansive territory that included most of the drainage basin of the colony. In addition, the pattern of development included importing numerous Africans The African continent is home to many different ethnic groups and people of wide-ranging phenotypical traits, both indigenous and foreign to the continent. Many of these populations have diverse origins, with differing cultural, linguistic and social traits and mores. Distinctions within Africa's geography, such as the varying climates across the in the 18th century, with many from the same region of West Africa, thus concentrating their culture.

Contents

Etymology

Louisiana was named after Louis XIV Louis XIV , known as the Sun King (French: le Roi Soleil), was King of France and of Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch, King of France from 1643–1715. When René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. About 2,320 miles long, the river originates at Lake Itasca, Minnesota and flows slowly southwards in sweeping meanders, terminating 95 river miles below New Orleans, Louisiana where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the for France, he named it La Louisiane, meaning "Land of Louis". Louisiana was also part of the Viceroyalty of New Mexico Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of New Spain and later Mexico that existed from the late 16th century up through the early 19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico. In theory it had variably-defined borders of the Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire was the name of modern Mexico on two non-consecutive occasions in the 19th century when it was ruled by an emperor. With the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain in 1821, Mexico became an independent monarchy, but was soon replaced with the First Mexican Republic. In turn, it reverted back into a monarchy. Once part of the United States, the Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Territory of Missouri stretched from present-day New Orleans New Orleans (pronounced /njuː ˈɔrliənz/ or /ˈnjuː ɔrˈliːnz/, locally [nuː ˈɔrlənz] or [ˈnɔrlənz]; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area, (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner) has a north to the present-day Canadian The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three border.

Geography

Map of Louisiana
Aerial view of Louisiana wetland habitats.

Topography

Louisiana is bordered to the west by the state of Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso and Austin—the; to the north by Arkansas The name "Arkansas" derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. The word "Arkansas" itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related "Kaw" tribe) word "akakaze" meaning "land; to the east by the state of Mississippi Mississippi is bordered on the north by Tennessee, on the east by Alabama, on the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico and on the west, across the Mississippi River, by Louisiana and Arkansas; and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the eleventh largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and.

The surface of the state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands and the alluvial Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated (not cemented together into a solid rock), soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel. When this loose alluvial material. The alluvial region includes low swamp lands, coastal marshlands and beaches, and barrier islands Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen. Excepting the tidal inlets that separate the islands, a barrier chain may extend uninterrupted for over a hundred that cover about 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²). This area lies principally along the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the eleventh largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and and the Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. About 2,320 miles long, the river originates at Lake Itasca, Minnesota and flows slowly southwards in sweeping meanders, terminating 95 river miles below New Orleans, Louisiana where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 miles (1,000 km) and empties into the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico is the eleventh largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and; the Red River The Red River, or sometimes The Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers located in the United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. The Red River is the second largest river basin in the southern Great Plains; the Ouachita River The Ouachita River is a 605-mile-long river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Red River just before the Red enters the Mississippi River and its branches; and other minor streams (some of which are called bayous A bayou is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can either refer to an extremely slow-moving stream or river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with the state of). The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles (15 to 100 km), and along the other rivers the alluvial region averages about 10 miles (15 km) across. The Mississippi River flows along a ridge formed by its own deposits (known as a levee A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast), from which the lands decline toward the low swamps beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile (3 m/km). The alluvial lands along other streams present similar features.

The higher lands and contiguous hill lands of the north and northwestern part of the state have an area of more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 km²). They consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea level range from 10 feet (3 m) at the coast and swamp lands to 50 and 60 feet (15–18 m) at the prairie and alluvial lands. In the uplands and hills, the elevations rise to Driskill Mountain Driskill Mountain is the highest natural summit in Louisiana with an elevation of 535 feet (163 meters) above sea level. It lies about 5.3 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Bryceland, Louisiana. It is located in the northeast corner of Sec. 32, T. 17 N., R. 5 W. at 32° 25′ 29.32″ N 92° 53′ 47.90″ W (WGS84) within Bienville Parish. Although the, the highest point in the state at only 535 feet (163 m) above sea level. Only two other states, Florida With an area of 65,758 square miles , it is ranked 22nd in size among the 50 U.S. states. Florida has the most coastline in the Contiguous United States encompassing approximately 1,200 miles. The state has four large urban areas, a number of smaller industrial cities, and many small towns and Delaware Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second smallest state in area . Estimates in 2007 rank the population of Delaware as 45th in the nation, but 6th in population density, with more than 60% of the population in New Castle County. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these, are geographically lower than Louisiana.[citation needed]

Besides the navigable waterways already named, there are the Sabine The Sabine River is a river, 555 miles (893 km) long, in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. In its lower course, it forms part of the boundary between the two states and empties into Sabine Lake, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico. The river formed part of the United States-Mexican international boundary during the early 19th century. The upper (Sah-BEAN), forming the western boundary; and the Pearl The Pearl River is a river in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Louisiana. It forms in Winston County, Mississippi from the confluence of Nanawaya and Tallahaga Creeks. It is 790 kilometers long. The Yockanookany and Strong Rivers are tributaries. Northeast of Jackson, the Ross Barnett Reservoir is formed by a dam, the eastern boundary; the Calcasieu The Calcasieu River is a river on the Gulf Coast of southwestern Louisiana, U.S.A.. Approximately 200 miles (320 km) long, it drains a largely rural area of forests and bayou country, meandering southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The name "Calcasieu" comes from the Native American Atakapa language katkosh, for Eagle, and yok, to cry. Its (KAL-cah-shew), the Mermentau, the Vermilion The Vermilion River is a river, 72 mi (116 km) long, in southern Louisiana in the United States. It is formed on the common boundary of Lafayette and St. Martin Parishes by a confluence of small bayous flowing from St. Landry Parish, and flows generally southward through Lafayette and Vermilion Parishes, past the cities of Lafayette and Abbeville, Bayou Teche The Bayou Teche is a 125-mile long waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana. Bayou Teche was the Mississippi River's main course when it developed a delta about 2,800 to 4,500 years ago. Through a natural process known as deltaic switching, the river's deposits of silt and sediment cause the Mississippi to change its, the Atchafalaya The Atchafalaya River is a distributary of the Mississippi and Red rivers, approximately 170 miles long, in south central Louisiana in the United States. It is navigable and provides a significant industrial shipping channel for the state of Louisiana, as well as the cultural heart of the Cajun Country. The maintenance of the river as a navigable (a-CHAF-a-LI-a), the Boeuf (beff), Bayou Lafourche, the Courtableau, Bayou D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas (TEN-saw), Amite River, the Tchefuncte (CHA-Funk-ta), the Tickfaw, the Natalbany, and a number of other smaller streams, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles (6,400 km) long. These waterways are unequaled in any other state of the nation.[citation needed] The state also has 1,060 square miles (2,745 km²) of land-locked bays; 1,700 square miles (4,400 km²) of inland lakes; and a river surface of over 500 square miles (1,300 km²).[citation needed]

The state also has political jurisdiction over the approximately 3-mile-wide portion of subsea land of the inner continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. Through a peculiarity of the political geography of the United States, this is substantially less than the 9-mile-wide jurisdiction of nearby states Texas and Florida, which, like Louisiana, have extensive Gulf coastlines.[6]

Climate

Baton Rouge
Climate chart ()
J F M A M J J A S O N D
5.9 62 42 5 65 44 5 72 51 5.3 78 57 5.2 84 64 5.8 89 70 5.4 91 73 5.7 91 72 4.5 88 68 3.6 81 57 4.8 71 48 5.2 64 43
average max. and min. temperatures in °F
precipitation totals in inches
source: [6]
Metric conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
151 17 6 127 18 7 126 22 11 134 26 14 133 29 18 148 32 21 137 33 23 145 33 22 115 31 20 92 27 14 122 22 9 131 18 6
average max. and min. temperatures in °C
precipitation totals in mm
Lake Charles
Climate chart ()
J F M A M J J A S O N D
5.5 62 43 3.3 65 47 3.5 70 51 3.6 78 59 6.1 85 66 6.1 90 72 5.1 92 74 4.9 92 74 6 88 70 3.9 81 61 4.6 69 52 4.6 64 46
average max. and min. temperatures in °F
precipitation totals in inches
source: as above
Metric conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
140 17 6 83 18 8 90 21 11 92 26 15 154 29 19 154 32 22 130 33 23 123 33 23 151 31 21 100 27 16 117 21 11 117 18 8
average max. and min. temperatures in °C
precipitation totals in mm
New Orleans
Climate chart ()
J F M A M J J A S O N D
5.9 64 44 5.5 66 47 5.2 73 53 5 79 59 4.6 85 66 6.8 90 72 6.2 91 74 6.2 91 74 5.6 88 70 3.1 80 61 5.1 72 52 5.1 65 46
average max. and min. temperatures in °F
precipitation totals in inches
source: as above
Metric conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
149 18 7 139 19 8 133 23 12 128 26 15 117 29 19 173 32 22 157 33 23 156 33 23 141 31 21 77 27 16 129 22 11 129 18 8
average max. and min. temperatures in °C
precipitation totals in mm
Shreveport
Climate chart ()
J F M A M J J A S O N D
4.9 56 36 4.3 61 39 4.5 69 46 4.6 77 54 4.9 84 62 4.9 90 69 3.8 93 73 2.9 93 71 3.1 87 66 4.4 78 55 4.6 67 44 4.7 59 38
average max. and min. temperatures in °F
precipitation totals in inches
source: as above
Metric conversion
J F M A M J J A S O N D
125 13 2 109 16 4 114 21 8 116 25 12 123 29 17 123 32 21 96 34 23 74 34 22 78 31 19 112 26 13 116 19 7 120 15 3
average max. and min. temperatures in °C
precipitation totals in mm

Louisiana has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa), perhaps the most "classic" example of a humid subtropical climate of all the Southcentral states, with long, hot, humid summers and short, mild winters. The subtropical characteristics of the state are due in large part to the influence of the Gulf of Mexico, which even at its farthest point is no more than 200 miles (320 km) away. Precipitation is frequent throughout the year, although the summer is slightly wetter than the rest of the year. There is a dip in precipitation in October. Southern Louisiana receives far more copious rainfall, especially during the winter months. Summers in Louisiana are hot and humid, with high temperatures from mid-June to mid-September averaging 90 °F (32 °C) or more and overnight lows averaging above 70 °F (22 °C). In the summer, the extreme maximum temperature is much warmer in the north than in the south, with temperatures near the Gulf of Mexico occasionally reaching 100 °F (38 °C), although temperatures above 95 °F (35 °C) are commonplace. In northern Louisiana, the temperatures reach above 105 °F (41 °C) in the summer.

Temperatures are generally mildly warm in the winter in the southern part of the state, with highs around New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the rest of south Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico averaging 66 °F (19 °C), while the northern part of the state is mildly cool in the winter with highs averaging 59 °F (15 °C). The overnight lows in the winter average well above freezing throughout the state, with 46 °F (8 °C) the average near the Gulf and an average low of 37 °F (3 °C) in the winter in the northern part of the state. Louisiana does have its share of cold fronts, which frequently drop the temperatures below 20 °F (-8 °C) in the northern part of the state, but almost never do so in the southern part of the state. Snow is not very common near the Gulf of Mexico, although those in the northern parts of the state can expect one to three snowfalls per year, with the frequency increasing northwards.

Louisiana is often affected by tropical cyclones and is very vulnerable to strikes by major hurricanes, particularly the lowlands around and in the New Orleans area. The unique geography of the region with the many bayous, marshes and inlets can make major hurricanes especially destructive. The area is also prone to frequent thunderstorms, especially in the summer. The entire state averages over 60 days of thunderstorms a year, more than any other state except Florida. Louisiana averages 27 tornadoes annually, some in part in 2010. The entire state is vulnerable to a tornado strike, with the extreme southern portion of the state slightly less so than the rest of the state. Tornadoes are much more common from January to March in the southern part of the state, and from February through March in the northern part of the state.[7]

The southern coast of Louisiana in the United States is among the fastest disappearing areas in the world. Rising waters have led to the state losing a land mass equivalent to 30 football fields every day. And as the communities disappear, more and more people are leaving the region.[7]

Hurricanes

Further information: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana and Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans

Geology

The underlying strata of the state are of Cretaceous age 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.

Near the coast, there are many salt domes, where salt is mined and oil is often found. Salt domes also exist in North Louisiana.

Due both to extensive flood control measures along the Mississippi River and natural subsidence, Louisiana is now suffering the loss of coastal land area. State and federal government efforts to halt or reverse this phenomenon are underway; others are being sought. There is one bright spot, however; the Atchafalaya River is creating new delta land in the South-Central portion of the state. This active delta lobe also indicates that the Mississippi is seeking a new path to the Gulf. Much engineering effort is devoted to keeping the river near its traditional route, as the state's economy and shipping depends on it.

Geographic and statistical areas

Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes (the equivalent of counties in most other states). The term "parish" is unique to Louisiana and is due to its French / Spanish heritage; the original boundaries of the civilian county governments were coterminous with the local Roman Catholic parishes.

Alexandria

Baton Rouge

Bossier City

Lafayette

Lake Charles

New Orleans

Shreveport

Monroe

Protected areas

See also: List of Louisiana state parks

Louisiana contains a number of areas which are, in varying degrees, protected from human intervention. In addition to National Park Service sites and areas and a United States National Forest, Louisiana operates a system of state parks and recreation areas throughout the state. Administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Louisiana Natural and Scenic Rivers System provides a degree of protection for 48 rivers, streams and bayous in the state.

National Park Service

Historic or scenic areas managed, protected, or otherwise recognized by the National Park Service include:

US Forest Service

State parks and recreational areas

Louisiana operates a system of 19 state parks, 16 state historic sites and one state preservation area. Louisiana is also home of the High Delta Safari Park close to Shreveport and Monroe.

Transportation

See also: List of numbered highways in Louisiana Intracoastal waterway in Louisiana near New Orleans

Interstate highways

United States highways

The Intracoastal Waterway is an important means of transporting commercial goods such as petroleum and petroleum products, agricultural produce, building materials and manufactured goods.

History

Main article: History of Louisiana

Prehistory

Louisiana was inhabited by Native Americans for many millennia before the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s. During the Archaic period Louisiana was home to the earliest mound complex in North America and one of the earliest dated, complex constructions in the Americas, the Watson Brake site near Monroe.[13] Later, the largest and best-known site in the state was built near modern-day Epps, Louisiana, at Poverty Point. The Poverty Point culture may have hit its peak around 1500 BCE, making it the first complex culture, and possibly the first tribal culture in North America.[14] It lasted until approximately 700 BCE. The Poverty Point culture was followed by the Tchefuncte and Lake Cormorant cultures of the Tchula period, local manifestations of Early Woodland period. The Tchefuncte culture were the first people in Louisiana to make large amounts of pottery.[15] These cultures lasted until 200 CE. The Middle Woodland period starts in Louisiana with the Marksville culture in the southern and eastern part of the state[16] and the Fourche Maline culture in the northwestern part of the state. The Marksville culture takes its name from the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. These cultures were contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures of Ohio and Illinois, and participated in the Hopewell Exchange Network. Trade with peoples to the southwest brought the bow and arrow[17] The first burial mounds are built at this time.[18] Political power begins to be consolidated as the first platform mounds at ritual centers are constructed for the developing hereditary political and religious leadership.[18] By 400 CE in the southern part of the state the Late Woodland period had begun with the Baytown culture and it wasn't all that much of a change in the cultural history of the area. Population increased dramatically and there is strong evidence of a growing cultural and political complexity. Many Coles Creek sites were erected over earlier Woodland period mortuary mounds, leading researchers to speculate that emerging elites were symbolically and physically appropriating dead ancestors to emphasize and project their own authority.[19] The Mississippian period in Louisiana sees the emergence of the Plaquemine and the Caddoan Mississippian cultures. This period is when extensive maize agriculture is adopted. The Plaquemine culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana begins in 1200 CE and goes to about 1400 CE. Good examples of this culture are the Medora Site in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, and the Emerald Mound, Winterville and Holly Bluff sites in Mississippi.[20] Plaquemine culture was contemporaneous with the Middle Mississippian culture in the Cahokia site near St. Louis, Missouri. This group is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa Peoples.[21] By 1000 CE in the northwestern part of the state the Fourche Maline culture had evolved into the Caddoan Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeast Texas, and northwest Louisiana. Archeological evidence that the cultural continuity is unbroken from prehistory to the present, and that the direct ancestors of the Caddo and related Caddo language speakers in prehistoric times and at first European contact and the modern Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is unquestioned today.[22]

Many current place names in the state, including Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (as Avoyelles), are transliterations of those used in various Native American languages.

Exploration and colonization by Europeans

Louisiana regions

The first European explorers to visit Louisiana came in 1528 when a Spanish expedition led by Panfilo de Narváez located the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1542, Hernando de Soto's expedition skirted to the north and west of the state (encountering Caddo and Tunica groups) and then followed the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico in 1543. Then Spanish interest in Louisiana lay dormant. In the late 17th century, French expeditions, which included sovereign, religious and commercial aims, established a foothold on the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. With its first settlements, France lay claim to a vast region of North America and set out to establish a commercial empire and French nation stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.

In 1682, the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor France's King Louis XIV. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas (at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi), was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, a French military officer from Canada, in 1699. By then the French had also built a small fort at the mouth of the Mississippi at a settlement they named La Balise (or La Balize), "seamark" in French. By 1721 they built a 62-foot (19 m) wooden lighthouse-type structure to guide ships on the river.[23]

The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed all the land on both sides of the Mississippi River and north to French territory in Canada. The following States were part of Louisiana: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.

The settlement of Natchitoches (along the Red River in present-day northwest Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, making it the oldest permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory. The French settlement had two purposes: to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas, and to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. Also, the northern terminus of the Old San Antonio Road (sometimes called El Camino Real, or Kings Highway) was at Natchitoches. The settlement soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river. Over time, planters developed large plantations and built fine homes in a growing town. This became a pattern repeated in New Orleans and other places.

French Acadians, who came to be known as Cajuns, settled the swamps of southern Louisiana, especially in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Louisiana's French settlements contributed to further exploration and outposts, concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, from Louisiana to as far north as the region called the Illinois Country, around present-day St. Louis, Missouri. See also: French colonization of the Americas

Initially Mobile, Alabama, and Biloxi, Mississippi, functioned as the capital of the colony. Recognizing the importance of the Mississippi River to trade and military interests, France made New Orleans the seat of civilian and military authority in 1722. From then until the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase on December 20, 1803, France and Spain traded control of the region's colonial empire.

In the 1720s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River in a region referred to as the German Coast.

France ceded most of its territory to the east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in the aftermath of Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War or French and Indian War, as it was known in North America. It retained the area around New Orleans and the parishes around Lake Pontchartrain. The rest of Louisiana became a colony of Spain after the Seven Years' War by the Treaty of Fontainebleau of 1763.

In 1765, during the period of Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia (now Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, Canada) made their way to Louisiana following British expulsion after the Seven Years' War. They settled chiefly in the southwestern Louisiana region now called Acadiana. The Spanish, eager to gain more Catholic settlers, welcomed the Acadian refugees. Cajuns descend from these Acadian refugees.

Spanish Canary Islanders, called Isleños, emigrated from the Canary Islands of Spain to Louisiana under the Spanish crown between 1778 and 1783.

In 1800, France's Napoleon Bonaparte acquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, an arrangement kept secret for two years.

Expansion of slavery

In 1709, French financier Antoine Crozat obtained a monopoly of commerce in the French dominion of Louisiana that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to what is now Illinois. "That concession allowed him to bring in a cargo of blacks from Africa every year," the British historian Hugh Thomas wrote.[24]

When France sold the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803, it was soon accepted that enslaved Africans could be brought there as easily as they were brought to neighboring Mississippi though it violated U.S. law to do so.[25] Though Louisiana was, at the start of the nineteenth century, a small producer of sugar with a relatively small number of slaves, it soon became a big sugar producer after plantation owners purchased enslaved people who had been transported from Africa and then to South Carolina before being sold in Louisiana where plantation owners forced the captive labor to work at no pay on their growing sugar cane plantations. Despite demands by United States Rep. James Hillhouse and by the pamphleteer Thomas Paine to enforce existing federal law against slavery in the newly acquired territory.[26], slavery prevailed because it was the source of great profits and the lowest cost labor. The last Spanish governor of the Louisiana territory wrote that "Truly, it is impossible for lower Louisiana to get along without slaves" and with the use of slaves, the colony had been "making great strides toward prosperity and wealth." [25]

Forced slave labor was needed, said William Claiborne, Louisiana's first United States governor, because unforced white laborers "cannot be had in this unhealthy climate." [27] Hugh Thomas wrote that Claiborne was unable to enforce the abolition of trafficking in human beings where he was charged with doing so in Louisiana.

Haitian Migration and Influence

Pierre Laussat (French Minister in Louisiana 1718): "Saint-Domingue was, of all our colonies in the Antilles, the one whose mentality and customs influenced Louisiana the most."

Louisiana and her Caribbean parent colony developed intimate links during the eighteenth century, centered on maritime trade, the exchange of capital and information, and the migration of colonists. From such beginnings, Haitians exerted a profound influence on Louisiana's politics, people, religion, and culture. The colony's officials, responding to anti-slavery plots and uprisings on the island, banned the entry of enslaved Saint Dominguans in 1763. Their rebellious actions would continue to impact upon Louisiana's slave trade and immigration policies throughout the age of the American and French revolutions.

These two democratic struggles struck fear in the hearts of the Spaniards, who governed Louisiana from 1763 to 1800. They suppressed what they saw as seditious activities and banned subversive materials in a futile attempt to isolate their colony from the spread of democratic revolution. In May 1790 a royal decree prohibited the entry of blacks - enslaved and free - from the French West Indies. A year later, the first successful slave revolt in history started, which would lead eventually to the founding of Haiti.[28]

The revolution in Saint Domingue unleashed a massive multiracial exodus: the French fled with the slaves they managed to keep; so did numerous free people of color, some of whom were slaveholders themselves. In addition in 1793, a catastrophic fire destroyed two-thirds of the principal city, Cap Français (present-day Cap Haïtien), and nearly ten thousand people left the island for good. In the ensuing decades of revolution, foreign invasion, and civil war, thousands more fled the turmoil. Many moved eastward to Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic) or to nearby Caribbean islands. Large numbers of immigrants, black and white, found shelter in North America, notably in New York, Baltimore (fifty-three ships landed there in July 1793), Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah as well as in Spanish Florida. Nowhere on the continent, however, did the refugee movement exert as profound an influence as in southern Louisiana.

French pirate Jean Lafitte, who operated in New Orleans, was born in Port-au-Prince around 1782.[29]

Between 1791 and 1803, thirteen hundred refugees arrived in New Orleans. The authorities were concerned that some had come with "seditious" ideas. In the spring of 1795, Pointe Coupée was the scene of an attempted insurrection during which planters' homes were burned down. Following the incident, a free émigré from Saint Domingue, Louis Benoit, accused of being "very imbued with the revolutionary maxims which have devastated the said colony" was banished. The failed uprising caused planter Joseph Pontalba to take "heed of the dreadful calamities of Saint Domingue, and of the germ of revolt only too widespread among our slaves." Continued unrest in Pointe Coupée and on the German Coast contributed to a decision to shut down the entire slave trade in the spring of 1796.

In 1800 Louisiana officials debated reopening it, but they agreed that Saint Domingue blacks would be barred from entry. They also noted the presence of black and white insurgents from the French West Indies who were "propagating dangerous doctrines among our Negroes." Their slaves seemed more "insolent," "ungovernable," and "insubordinate" than they had been just five years before.

That same year, Spain ceded Louisiana back to France, and planters continued to live in fear of revolts. After future emperor Napoleon Bonaparte sold the colony to the United States in 1803 because his disastrous expedition against Saint Domingue had stretched his finances and military too thin, events in the island loomed even larger in Louisiana.[30]

Purchase by the United States

Main article: Louisiana Purchase

When the United States won its independence from Great Britain in 1783, one of its major concerns was having a European power on its western boundary, and the need for unrestricted access to the Mississippi River. As American settlers pushed west, they found that the Appalachian Mountains provided a barrier to shipping goods eastward. The easiest way to ship produce was to use a flatboat to float it down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the port of New Orleans, from whence goods could be put on ocean-going vessels. The problem with this route was that the Spanish owned both sides of the Mississippi below Natchez. Napoleon's ambitions in Louisiana involved the creation of a new empire centered on the Caribbean sugar trade. By the terms of the Treaty of Amiens of 1800, Great Britain returned ownership of the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe to the French. Napoleon looked upon Louisiana as a depot for these sugar islands, and as a buffer to U.S. settlement. In October 1801 he sent a large military force to conquer the important island of Santo Domingo and re-introduce slavery, which had been abolished in St. Domingue following a slave revolt there in 1792-3, and the legal and constitutional abolition of slavery in French colonies in 1794.

When the army led by Napoleon's brother-in-law Leclerc was defeated by the forces opposed to the re-enslavement of most of the population of St. Domingue, Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana.

Louisiana's bilingual state welcome sign, recognizing its French heritage

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States, was disturbed by Napoleon's plans to re-establish French colonies in America. With the possession of New Orleans, Napoleon could close the Mississippi to U.S. commerce at any time. Jefferson authorized Robert R. Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, to negotiate for the purchase of the City of New Orleans, portions of the east bank of the Mississippi, and free navigation of the river for U.S. commerce. Livingston was authorized to pay up to $2 million.

An official transfer of Louisiana to French ownership had not yet taken place, and Napoleon's deal with the Spanish was a poorly kept secret on the frontier. On October 18, 1802, however, Juan Ventura Morales, Acting Intendant of Louisiana, made public the intention of Spain to revoke the right of deposit at New Orleans for all cargo from the United States. The closure of this vital port to the United States caused anger and consternation. Commerce in the west was virtually blockaded. Historians believe that the revocation of the right of deposit was prompted by abuses of the Americans, particularly smuggling, and not by French intrigues as was believed at the time. President Jefferson ignored public pressure for war with France, and appointed James Monroe a special envoy to Napoleon, to assist in obtaining New Orleans for the United States. Jefferson also raised the authorized expenditure to $10 million.

However, on April 11, 1803, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand surprised Livingston by asking how much the United States was prepared to pay for the entirety of Louisiana, not just New Orleans and the surrounding area (as Livingston's instructions covered). Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time (leaving them with no ability to obtain the desired New Orleans area), and that approval from President Jefferson might take months, so Livingston and Monroe decided to open negotiations immediately. By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire 828000 square mile Louisiana territory for 60 million Francs (approximately $15 million). Part of this sum was used to forgive debts owed by France to the United States. The payment was made in United States bonds, which Napoleon sold at face value to the Dutch firm of Hope and Company, and the British banking house of Baring, at a discount of 87½ per each $100 unit. As a result, France received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana.

Dutiful English banker Alexander Baring conferred with Marbois in Paris, shuttled to the United States to pick up the bonds, took them to Britain, and returned to France with the money – which Napoleon used to wage war against Baring's own country.

When news of the purchase reached the United States, Jefferson was surprised. He had authorized the expenditure of $10 million for a port city, and instead received treaties committing the government to spend $15 million on a land package which would double the size of the country. Jefferson's political opponents in the Federalist Party argued that the Louisiana purchase was a worthless desert, and that the Constitution did not provide for the acquisition of new land or negotiating treaties without the consent of the Senate. What really worried the opposition was the new states which would inevitably be carved from the Louisiana territory, strengthening Western and Southern interests in Congress, and further reducing the influence of New England Federalists in national affairs. President Jefferson was an enthusiastic supporter of westward expansion, and held firm in his support for the treaty. Despite Federalist objections, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana treaty on October 20, 1803.

A transfer ceremony was held in New Orleans on November 29, 1803. Since the Louisiana territory had never officially been turned over to the French, the Spanish took down their flag, and the French raised theirs. The following day, General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States. A similar ceremony was held in St. Louis on March 9, 1804, when a French tricolor was raised near the river, replacing the Spanish national flag. The following day, Captain Amos Stoddard of the First U.S. Artillery marched his troops into town and had the American flag run up the fort's flagpole. The Louisiana territory was officially transferred to the United States government, represented by Meriwether Lewis.

The Louisiana Territory, purchased for less than 3 cents an acre, doubled the size of the United States overnight, without a war or the loss of a single American life, and set a precedent for the purchase of territory. It opened the way for the eventual expansion of the United States across the continent to the Pacific

Demographics

Louisiana population density map.
Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1810 76,556 —
1820 153,407 100.4%
1830 215,739 40.6%
1840 352,411 63.4%
1850 517,762 46.9%
1860 708,002 36.7%
1870 726,915 2.7%
1880 939,946 29.3%
1890 1,118,588 19.0%
1900 1,381,625 23.5%
1910 1,656,388 19.9%
1920 1,798,509 8.6%
1930 2,101,593 16.9%
1940 2,363,516 12.5%
1950 2,683,516 13.5%
1960 3,257,022 21.4%
1970 3,641,306 11.8%
1980 4,205,900 15.5%
1990 4,219,973 0.3%
2000 4,468,976 5.9%
Est. 2008 4,410,796 [4] −1.3%

As of July 2005 (prior to the landfall of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita), Louisiana has an estimated population of 4,523,628, which is an increase of 16,943, or 0.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 54,670, or 1.2%, since 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 129,889 people (that is 350,818 births minus 220,929 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 69,373 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 20,174 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 89,547 people. The population density of the state is 102.6 people per square mile.[31]

The center of population of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of New Roads.[32]

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 4.7% of the population aged 5 and older speak French or Cajun French at home, while 2.5% speak Spanish [8].

Demographics of Louisiana (csv)
By race White Black AIAN* Asian NHPI*
2000 (total population) 65.39% 32.94% 0.96% 1.45% 0.07%
2000 (Hispanic only) 2.09% 0.28% 0.06% 0.03% 0.01%
2005 (total population) 64.77% 33.47% 0.97% 1.60% 0.07%
2005 (Hispanic only) 2.52% 0.27% 0.06% 0.03% 0.01%
Growth 2000–05 (total population) 0.26% 2.86% 2.26% 11.98% 2.25%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) -0.47% 2.89% 2.47% 12.11% 3.93%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) 22.23% -1.03% -0.78% 6.41% -5.82%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

Cajun and Creole population

Cajuns and Creoles of French ancestry are dominant in much of the southern part of the state. Louisiana Cajuns are the descendants of French-speaking Acadians from colonial French Acadia, which are now the present-day Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Cajuns remained isolated in the swamps of South Louisiana well into the 20th century.[33] During the early part of the 20th century, attempts were made to suppress Cajun culture by measures such as forbidding the use of the Cajun French language in schools.[34]

The Creole people of Louisiana are split into two racial divisions. Créole was the term first given to French settlers born in Louisiana when it was a colony of France. In Spanish the term for natives was criollo. Given the immigration and settlement patterns, white Creoles are predominantly of French and Spanish ancestry. As the slave population grew in Louisiana, there were also enslaved blacks who could be called Creoles, in the sense of having been born in the colony.

The special meaning of Louisiana Creole, however, is associated with free people of color (gens de couleur libres), which was generally a third class of mixed-race people who were concentrated in southern Louisiana and New Orleans. This group was formed under French and Spanish rule, made up at first of descendants from relationships between colonial men and enslaved women, mostly African. As time went on, colonial men chose companions who were often women of color, or mixed-race. Often the men would free their companions and children if still enslaved. The arrangements were formalized in New Orleans as plaçage, often associated with property settlements for the young women and education for their children, or at least for sons. Creoles who were free people of color during French and Spanish rule formed a distinct class - many were educated and became wealthy property owners or artisans, and they were politically active. Often these mixed-race Creoles married only among themselves. They were a distinct group between French and Spanish descendants, and the mass of enslaved Africans.

After the Haitian Revolution, the class of free people of color in New Orleans and Louisiana was increased by French-speaking refugees and immigrants from Haiti. At the same time, French-speaking whites entered the city, some bringing slaves with them, who in Haiti were mostly African natives. In 1809, nearly 10,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue arrived from Cuba, where they had first fled, to settle en masse in New Orleans.[35] They doubled that city’s population and helped preserve its French language and culture for several generations.[36]

Today Creoles of color are generally those who are a mix of African, French, Spanish and Native American heritage, who grew up in the French or Creole-speaking environment and culture. The separate status of Creoles of color was diminished after the US made the Louisiana Purchase, and even more so after the American Civil War. Attempts to regain supremacy made them divide society simply into black and white. Those Creoles who had been free for generations before the Civil War lost some of their standing.

African Americans

Louisiana's population has the second largest proportion of black Americans (32.5%) in the United States, behind neighboring Mississippi (36.3%).

Official census statistics do not distinguish among people of African ancestry. Consequently, no distinction is made between those in Louisiana of English-speaking heritage and those of French-speaking heritage.

Creoles of color, Black Americans in Louisiana with French, African, and Native American ancestry, predominate in the southeast, central, and northern parts of the state, particularly those parishes along the Mississippi River valley.

European Americans

Whites of Southern U.S. background predominate in northern Louisiana. These people are predominantly of English, French, Welsh, and Scots Irish backgrounds, and share a common, mostly Protestant culture with Americans of neighboring states.

Before the Louisiana Purchase, some German families had settled in a rural area along the lower Mississippi valley, then known as the German Coast. They assimilated into Cajun and Creole communities.

In 1840 New Orleans was the third largest and most wealthy city in the nation and the largest city in the South. Its bustling port and trade economy attracted numerous Irish, Italian, German and Portuguese immigrants, of which the first two groups were totally Catholic, and some Portuguese and Germans were, adding to Catholic culture in southern Louisiana. New Orleans is also home to sizable Dutch, Greek and Polish communities, and Jewish populations of various nationalities. More than 10,000 Maltese were reported to come to Louisiana in the early 20th century.

Hispanic Americans

According to the 2000 census, people of Hispanic origin made up 2.4% of the state's population. By 2005, this proportion had increased to an estimated 3 percent of the state's population, and the figure is believed to have increased further since then. The state has attracted an influx of immigrants from various countries of Latin America, such as Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. New Orleans has one of the largest Honduran American communities in the USA.

Older Cuban American and Dominican communities are present in the New Orleans area, sometimes dating back to the 1920s and even as early as the 1880s, although most of them are immigrants and in the case of Cubans, being anti-Castro regime political refugees.

In 1763, after the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau at the end of the Seven Years War, Louisiana was ruled by the Spanish empire for the next 36 years. During this time some Spanish peoples, especially Canary Islanders settled in the area down river from New Orleans, now St. Bernard Parish, and in other parts of the Southeast of the state. These would form the basis of Louisiana's Isleño population.

Asian Americans

In 2006 it was estimated that 50,209 people of Asian descent (East Asian, South Asian and other Asian) live in Louisiana. Louisiana's Asian American population includes the descendants of Chinese workers who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often from the Caribbean. Another wave of Chinese immigration but this time from Southeast Asia occurred in the late 20th century.

In the 1970s and 1980s, numerous Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian refugees came to the Gulf Coast to work in the fishing and shrimping industries. People of Vietnamese ancestry comprise the bulk of Asian Americans in Louisiana. About 95% of Louisiana's Asian population resides in Baton Rouge, also home to well-established East Indian and Korean communities.

The earliest arrival of Filipinos are the "Manilamen", who worked on Spanish ships from the Philippines, back in 1763, and who settled down in the Gulf coast, married white "Cajun" and Native American women, and later were absorbed into the local Creole population.[citation needed]

Economy

The total gross state product in 2005 for Louisiana was US$168 billion, placing it 24th in the nation. Its per capita personal income is $30,952, ranking 41st in the United States.[37]

The state's principal agricultural products include seafood (it is the biggest producer of crawfish in the world, supplying approximately 90%), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. The seafood industry directly supports an estimated 16,000 jobs.[38] Industry generates chemical products, petroleum and coal products, processed foods and transportation equipment, and paper products. Tourism is an important element in the economy, especially in the New Orleans area.

The Port of South Louisiana, located on the Mississippi between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is the largest volume shipping port in the Western Hemisphere and 4th largest in the world, as well as the largest bulk cargo port in the world.[39]

New Orleans and Shreveport are also home to a thriving film industry.[40] State financial incentives and aggressive promotion have put the local film industry on a fast track. In late 2007 and early 2008, a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m2) film studio was scheduled to open in Treme, with state-of-the-art production facilities, and a film training institute.[41] Tabasco sauce, which is marketed by one of the United States' biggest producers of hot sauce, the McIlhenny Company, originated on Avery Island.[42]

Louisiana has three personal income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 6%. The sales tax rate is 4%: a 3.97% Louisiana sales tax and a .03% Louisiana Tourism Promotion District sales tax. Political subdivisions also levy their own sales tax in addition to the state fees. The state also has a use tax, which includes 4% to be distributed by the Department of Revenue to local governments. Property taxes are assessed and collected at the local level. Louisiana is a subsidized state, receiving $1.44 from the federal government for every dollar paid in.

Tourism and culture are major players in Louisiana's economy, earning an estimated $5.2 billion per year.[43] Louisiana also hosts many important cultural events, such as the World Cultural Economic Forum, which is held annually in the fall at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.[44]

As of January 2010, the states unemployment rate is 7.4%.[45] An African American is three times as likely as a white person to be unemployed in Louisiana.[46]

Federal subsidies and spending

Louisiana taxpayers receive more federal funding per dollar of federal taxes paid compared to the average state. Per dollar of federal tax collected in 2005, Louisiana citizens received approximately $1.78 in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state 4th highest nationally and represents a rise from 1995 when Louisiana received $1.35 per dollar of taxes in federal spending (ranked 7th nationally). Neighboring states and the amount of federal spending received per dollar of federal tax collected were: Texas ($0.94), Arkansas ($1.41), and Mississippi ($2.02). Federal spending in 2005 and subsequent years since has been exceptionally high due to the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Tax Foundation.

Energy

Louisiana is rich in petroleum and natural gas. Petroleum and gas deposits are found in abundance both onshore and offshore in State-owned waters. In addition, vast petroleum and natural gas reserves are found offshore from Louisiana in the federally administered Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Energy Information Administration, the Gulf of Mexico OCS is the largest U.S. petroleum-producing region. Excluding the Gulf of Mexico OCS, Louisiana ranks fourth in petroleum production and is home to about 2 percent of total U.S. petroleum reserves. One third of the oil produced in the United States comes from offshore, and 80% of offshore production comes from deep water off Louisiana. The oil industry employs about 58,000 Louisiana residents and has created another 260,000 oil-related jobs, accounting for about 17% of all Louisiana jobs.[47]

Louisiana's natural gas reserves account for about 5 percent of the U.S. total. The recent discovery of the Haynesville Shale formation in parts of or all of Caddo, Bossier, Bienville, Sabine, De Soto, Red River, Sabine, and Natchitoches parishes have made it the world's fourth largest gas field with some wells initially producing over 25 million cubic feet of gas daily.[48]

The oil slick just off the Louisiana coast on April 30, 2010. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is now considered the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Louisiana was the first site of petroleum drilling over water in the world, on Caddo Lake in the northwest corner of the state. The petroleum and gas industry, as well as its subsidiary industries such as transport and refining, have dominated Louisiana's economy since the 1940s. Beginning in 1950, Louisiana was sued several times by the U.S. Interior Department, in efforts by the federal government to strip Louisiana of its submerged land property rights. These control vast stores of reservoirs of petroleum and natural gas.

When petroleum and gas boomed in the 1970s, so did Louisiana's economy. Likewise, when the petroleum and gas crash occurred in the 1980s, in large part due to monetary policy set by the Federal Reserve, Louisiana real estate, savings and loans, and local banks fell rapidly in value.[citation needed] The Louisiana economy as well as its politics of the last half-century cannot be understood without thoroughly accounting for the influence of the petroleum and gas industries. Since the 1980s, these industries' headquarters have consolidated in Houston, but many of the jobs that operate or provide logistical support to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico crude-oil-and-gas industry remained in Louisiana as of 2010.

Law and government

Further information: List of Louisiana Governors, Louisiana law, and Louisiana Constitution
Louisiana State Capitol
Louisiana Governor's Mansion

In 1849, the state moved the capital from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Shreveport have briefly served as the seat of Louisiana state government. The Louisiana State Capitol and the Louisiana Governor's Mansion are both located in Baton Rouge.

The current Louisiana governor is Bobby Jindal, the first Indian American to be elected governor. The current U.S. senators are Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven congressional districts and is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by six Republicans and one Democrat. Louisiana has nine votes in the Electoral College.

Civil law

The Louisiana political and legal structure has maintained several elements from the times of French and Spanish governance. One is the use of the term "parish" (from the French: paroisse) in place of "county" for administrative subdivision. Another is the legal system of civil law based on French, German and Spanish legal codes and ultimately Roman law—as opposed to English common law. Common law is "judge-made" law based on precedent, and is the basis of statutes in all other U.S. states. Louisiana's type of civil law system is what the majority of nations in the world use, especially in Europe and its former colonies, excluding those that derive from the British Empire. However, it is incorrect to equate the Louisiana Civil Code with the Napoleonic Code. Although the Napoleonic Code strongly influenced Louisiana law, it was never in force in Louisiana, as it was enacted in 1804, after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. While the Louisiana Civil Code of 1808 has been continuously revised and updated since its enactment, it is still considered the controlling authority in the state. Differences still exist between Louisianan civil law and the common law found in the other U.S. states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of common law tradition, [9] it is important to note that the "civilian" tradition is still deeply rooted in most aspects of Louisiana private law. Thus property, contractual, business entities structure, much of civil procedure, and family law, as well as some aspects of criminal law, are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking. Model Codes, such as the Uniform Commercial Code, which are adopted by most states within the union including Louisiana, are based on civilian thought, the essence being that it is deductive, as opposed to the common law which is inductive. In the civilian tradition the legislative body agrees a priori on the general principles to be followed. When a set of facts are brought before a judge, he deduces the court's ruling by comparing the facts of the individual case to the law. In contrast, common law, which really does not exist in its pure historical form due to the advent of statutory law, was created by a judge applying other judges' decisions to a new fact pattern brought before him in a case. The result is that historically English judges were not constrained by legislative authority.

Marriage

In 1997, Louisiana became the first state to offer the option of a traditional marriage or a covenant marriage [10]. In a covenant marriage, the couple waives their right to a "no-fault" divorce after six months of separation, which is available in a traditional marriage. To divorce under a covenant marriage, a couple must demonstrate cause. Marriages between ascendants and descendants and marriages between collaterals within the fourth degree (i.e., siblings, aunt and nephew, uncle and niece, first cousins) are prohibited.[49] Same-sex marriages are prohibited.[50]. Louisiana is a community property state.[51]

Elections

Main articles: Elections in Louisiana and Political party strength in Louisiana

From 1898–1965, after Louisiana had effectively disfranchised African Americans and poor whites by provisions of a new constitution, it essentially was a one-party state dominated by elite white Democrats. The franchise for whites was expanded somewhat during the decades, but blacks remained essentially disfranchised until the Civil Rights Movement, culminating in passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In multiple acts of resistance, blacks left the segregation, violence and oppression of the state to seek better opportunities in northern and western industrial cities during the Great Migrations of 1910–1970, markedly reducing their proportion of population in Louisiana. Since the 1960s, when civil rights legislation was passed under President Lyndon Johnson to protect voting and civil rights, most African Americans in the state have affiliated with the Democratic Party. In the same years, many white conservatives have moved to support Republican Party candidates in national and gubernatorial elections. David Vitter is the first Republican in Louisiana to be popularly elected as a U.S. Senator. The previous Republican Senator, John S. Harris, who took office in 1868, was chosen by the state legislature.

Louisiana was unique among U.S. states in using a system for its state and local elections similar to that of modern France. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, ran in a nonpartisan blanket primary (or "jungle primary") on Election Day. If no candidate had more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total competed in a runoff election approximately one month later. This run-off did not take into account party identification; therefore, it was not uncommon for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. Congressional races have also been held under the jungle primary system. All other states (except Washington) use single-party primaries followed by a general election between party candidates, each conducted by either a plurality voting system or runoff voting, to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials. Since 2008, federal congressional elections have been run under a closed primary system — limited to registered party members.

Louisiana has seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, six of which are currently held by Republicans and one by a Democrat. Louisiana is not classified as a "swing state" for future presidential elections.

Law enforcement

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be and removed. (September 2008)
See also: List of law enforcement agencies in Louisiana

Louisiana's statewide police force is the Louisiana State Police. It began in 1922 from the creation of the Highway Commission. In 1927 a second branch, the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, was formed. In 1932 the State Highway Patrol was authorized to carry weapons.

On July 28, 1936 the two branches were consolidated to form The Louisiana Department of State Police and its motto became "courtesy, loyalty, service". In 1942 this office was abolished and became a division of the Department of Public Safety called the Louisiana State Police. In 1988 the Criminal Investigation Bureau was reorganized.[52] Its troopers have statewide jurisdiction with power to enforce all laws of the state, including city and parish ordinances. Each year, they patrol over 12 million miles (20 million km) of roadway and arrest about 10,000 impaired drivers. The State police however, is primarily a traffic enforcement agency, with other sections that delve in to trucking safety, narcotics enforcement and gaming oversight.

The sheriff in each parish is the chief law enforcement officer in the parish. They are the keepers of the local parish prisons which house felony and misdemeanor prisoners. They are the primary criminal patrol and first responder agency in all matters criminal and civil. They are also the official tax collectors in each parish.

The sheriffs are responsible for general law enforcement in their respective parishes. However, Orleans parish is the only parish to have two (2) Sheriff's Offices. Orleans Parish has two elected sheriffs—one criminal and one civil. With the exception of Orleans Parish each parish in Louisiana has one elected sheriff. Orleans Parish is an exception, as here the general law enforcement duties fall to the New Orleans Police Department. In 2006 a bill was passed which will consolidate the two sheriffs' departments into one in 2010.

Most parishes are governed by a Police Jury. Eighteen of the sixty-four parishes are governed under an alternative form of government under a Home Rule Charter. They oversee the parish budget and operate the parish maintenance services. This includes parish road maintenance and other rural services.

Louisiana had the highest murder rate of any state in 2008 (11.9 murders per 100,000) which marked the 20th consecutive year (1989–2008) that Louisiana has posted the highest per capita murder rate of all 50 states in America according to Bureau of Justice Statistics from FBI Uniform Crime Reports.

Education

Further information: List of school districts in Louisiana , List of colleges and universities in Louisiana , and French immersion in Louisiana

Sports teams

See also: List of Louisiana sports teams

As of 2005, Louisiana is nominally the least populous state with more than one major professional sports league franchise: the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Hornets and the National Football League's Super Bowl XLIV Champions New Orleans Saints. Louisiana has a AAA Minor League baseball team, the New Orleans Zephyrs. The Zephyrs are currently affiliated with the Florida Marlins Northwest Louisiana is home to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the CHL Central Hockey League who were also members of the now defunct WPHL Western Professional Hockey Leaguewhere the Mudbugs won three consecutive league championships. Shreveport is the home of the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the American Association (Independent Pro Baseball League).

Louisiana was also home the now defunct Monroe Moccasins, Alexandria Warthogs, and Lake Charles Ice Pirates of the WPHL and the Baton Rouge King Fish, New Orleans Brass and Louisiana IceGators of the ECHL East Coast Hockey League

It should also be noted that from 1901–1959, New Orleans had a Double-A baseball team known as the Pelicans who won many league titles.

Louisiana also has a proportionally high number of collegiate NCAA Division I sports for its size; the state has no Division II teams and only one Division III team.[53] Baton Rouge is also home to the six-time College World Series Champions and the NCAA AP (1958) and three-time National Champions, the 1957, 2003 (BCS), and 2007 (BCS) Tigers of Louisiana State University.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Louisiana
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be and removed. (June 2008)
Dishes typical of Louisiana Creole cuisine.

Louisiana is home to many, especially notable are the distinct culture of the Creoles and Cajuns.

Creole culture is a cultural amalgamation that takes a little from each of the French, Spanish, African, and Native American cultures[54]. The Creole culture is part of White Creoles' and Black Creoles' culture. Originally Créoles referred to native-born whites of French-Spanish descent. Later the term also referred to descendants of the white men's relationships with black women, many of whom were educated free people of color. Many of the wealthy white men had quasi-permanent relationships with women of color outside their marriages, and supported them as "placées". If a woman was enslaved at the beginning of the relationship, the man usually arranged for her manumission, as well as that of any of her children.

Creoles became associated with the New Orleans area, where the elaborated arrangements flourished. Most wealthy planters had houses in town as well as at their plantations. Popular belief that a Creole is a mixed Black / French person came from the "Haitian" connotation of an African French person. There were many immigrants from Haiti to New Orleans after the Revolution. Although a Black Creole is one type of Creole, it is not the only type, nor the original meaning of Creole. All of the respective cultures of the groups that settled in southern Louisiana have been combined to make one "New Orleans" culture. The creative combination of cultures from these groups, along with Native American culture, was called "Creole" Culture. It has continued as one of the dominant social, economic and political cultures of Louisiana, along with Cajun culture, well into the 20th century. Some[weasel words] believe it has finally been overtaken by the American mainstream.[citation needed]

Cajun Culture. The ancestors of Cajuns came from west central France to the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, known as Acadia. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forcibly separated families and evicted them because of their long-stated political neutrality. Most captured Acadians were placed in internment camps in England and the New England colonies for 10 to 30 years. Many of those who escaped the British remained in French Canada. Once freed by England, many scattered, some to France, Canada, Mexico, or the Falkland Islands. The majority found refuge in south Louisiana centered in the region around Lafayette and the LaFourche Bayou country. Until the 1970s, Cajuns were often considered lower-class citizens, with the term "Cajun" being somewhat derogatory. Once flush with oil and gas riches, Cajun culture, food, music, and their infectious "joie de vivre" lifestyle quickly gained international acclaim.

A third distinct culture in Louisiana is that of the Isleños, who are descendants of Spanish Canary Islanders who migrated from the Canary Islands of Spain to Louisiana under the Spanish crown beginning in the mid-1770s. They settled in four main settlements, but many relocated to what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, where the majority of the Isleño population is still concentrated. An annual festival called Fiesta celebrates the heritage of the Isleños. St Bernard Parish has an Isleños museum, cemetery and church, as well as many street names with Spanish words and Spanish surnames from this heritage. Isleño identity is an active concern in the New Orleans suburbs of St. Bernard Parish, LA. Some members of the Isleño community still speak Spanish - with their own Canary Islander accent. Numerous Isleño identity clubs and organizations, and many members of Isleños society keep contact with the Canary Islands of Spain.

Languages

Louisiana has a unique linguistic culture, owing to its French and Spanish heritage. According to the 2000 census, among persons five years old and older,[55] 90.8% of Louisiana residents speak only English (99% total speak English) and 4.7% speak French at home (7% total speak French). Other minority languages are Spanish, which is spoken by 2.5% of the population; Vietnamese, by 0.6%; and German, by 0.2%. Although state law recognizes the usage of English and French in certain circumstances, the Louisiana State Constitution does not declare any "de jure official language or languages".[56] Currently the "de facto administrative languages" of the Louisiana State Government are English and French.

There are several unique dialects of French, Creole, and English spoken in Louisiana. There are three unique dialects of the French language: Cajun French, Colonial French, and Napoleonic French. For the Creole language, there is Louisiana Creole French. There are also two unique dialects of the English language: Cajun English, a French-influenced variety of English, and what is informally known as Yat, which resembles the New York City dialect, particularly that of historical Brooklyn, as both accents were influenced by large communities of immigrant Irish and Italian, but the Yat dialect was also influenced by French and Spanish.

Religion

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 1,382,603; Southern Baptist Convention with 868,587; and the United Methodist Church with 160,153.[57]

Like other Southern states, the population of Louisiana is made up of numerous Protestant denominations, comprising 60% of the state's adult population. Protestants are concentrated in the northern and central parts of the state and in the northern tier of the Florida Parishes. Because of French and Spanish heritage, whose descendants are Cajun and French Creole, and later Irish, Italian, and German immigrants, there is also a large Roman Catholic population, particularly in the southern part of the state.[58]

Since French Creoles were the first settlers, planters and leaders of the territory, they have traditionally been well represented in politics. For instance, most of the early governors were French Creole Catholics.[59] Although nowadays constituting only a plurality but not a majority of Louisiana's population, Catholics have continued to be influential in state politics. As of 2008 both Senators and the Governor were Catholic. The high proportion and influence of the Catholic population makes Louisiana distinct among Southern states.[60]

Current religious affiliations of the people of Louisiana:

Jewish American communities exist in the state's larger cities, notably Baton Rouge and New Orleans.[62] The most significant of these is the Jewish community of the New Orleans area, with a pre-Katrina population of about 12,000. The presence of a significant Jewish community well established by the early 20th century also made Louisiana unusual among Southern states, although South Carolina and Virginia also had influential populations in some of their major cities from the 18th and 19th centuries. Prominent Jews in Louisiana's political leadership have included Whig (later Democrat) Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), who represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate prior to the American Civil War and then became the Confederate Secretary of State; Democrat Adolph Meyer (1842–1908), Confederate Army officer who represented the state in the U.S. House from 1891 until his death in 1908; and Republican Secretary of State Jay Dardenne (1954-).

Music

Main article: Music of Louisiana

See also

North America portal
United States portal
Louisiana portal
Main articles: Outline of Louisiana and Index of Louisiana-related articles

References

  1. ^ New Orleans a 'ghost town' after thousands flee Gustav: mayor August 31, 2008.
  2. ^ "Expert: N.O. population at 273,000". WWL-TV. August 7, 2007. http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl080707jbpopulation.104a120f.html. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  3. ^ "Relocation". Connecting U.S. Cities. May 3, 2007. http://www.connectingbatonrouge.com/relocation.php.
  4. ^ a b "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 4,468,976 (2000)".
  5. ^ a b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.S Geological Survey. April 29, 2005. http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html#Highest. Retrieved November 6, 2006.
  6. ^ Rivet, Ryan (Summer 2008). Petroleum Dynamite. Tulane University. pp. 20–27. http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/Tulanian/. Retrieved 2009-09-07.
  7. ^ [1] NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 24, 2006.
  8. ^ Hurricane Gustav makes landfall, weakens to Category 1 storm Fox News, September 2, 2008.
  9. ^ Mandatory evacuations to begin Sunday morning in New Orleans CNN, August 31, 2008.
  10. ^ Associated Press (2008-09-03). "Sixteen deaths connected to Gustav". KTBS. http://www.ktbs.com/news/Sixteen-deaths-connected-to-Gustav--16463/. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  11. ^ Rowland, Michael (2008-09-02). "Louisiana cleans up after Gustav". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/03/2353770.htm?section=justin. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  12. ^ Stewart, Stacy (August 23, 2005). "Tropical Depression Twelve, Discussion No. 1, 5:00 p.m. EDT". National Hurricane Center. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/dis/al122005.discus.001.shtml. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  13. ^ Amélie A. Walker, "Earliest Mound Site", Archaeology Magazine, Volume 51 Number 1, January/February 1998
  14. ^ Jon L. Gibson, PhD, "Poverty Point: The First Complex Mississippi Culture", 2001, Delta Blues, accessed 26 Oct 2009
  15. ^ "The Tchefuncte Site Summary". http://www.crt.state.la.us/hp/nhl/parish52/scans/52030001.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  16. ^ "Louisiana Prehistory-Marksville, Troyville-Coles Creek, and Caddo". http://www.crt.state.la.us/archaeology/laprehis/marca.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  17. ^ "OAS-Oklahomas Past". http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/counties/latimer.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  18. ^ a b "Tejas-Caddo Ancestors-Woodland Cultures". http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/ancestors/woodland.html. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
  19. ^ Kidder, Tristram (1998). R. Barry Lewis, Charles Stout. ed. Mississippian Towns and Sacred Spaces. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0947-0.
  20. ^ "Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period". http://www.nps.gov/seac/outline/05-mississippian/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  21. ^ "The Plaquemine Culture, A.D 1000". http://bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/cacv/cacvbrvl.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  22. ^ "Tejas-Caddo Fundamentals-Caddoan Languages and Peoples". http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/languages.html. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  23. ^ David Roth, "Louisiana Hurricane History: 18th century (1722–1800)", Tropical Weather - National Weather Service - Lake Charles, LA, 2003, accessed May 7, 2008
  24. ^ The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997: Simon and Schuster. p. 242-43
  25. ^ a b The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997: Simon and Schuster. p. 548.
  26. ^ The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997:Simon and Schuster. p. 548.
  27. ^ The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1870 by Hugh Thomas. 1997: Simon and Schuster. p. 549.
  28. ^ "The Slave Rebellion of 1791". Library of Congress Country Studies.
  29. ^ Saving New Orleans, Smithsonian magazine, August 2006. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  30. ^ http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm;jsessionid=f8303469141230638453792?migration=5&topic=2&bhcp=1
  31. ^ [Title=The New York Times 2008 Almanac|Author=edited by John W. Wright|Date=2007|Page=178]
  32. ^ "Population and Population Centers by State - 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  33. ^ "The Cajuns and The Creoles"
  34. ^ Tidwell, Michael. Bayou Farewell:The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. Vintage Departures: New York, 2004.
  35. ^ "In Congo Square: Colonial New Orleans", The Nation, 2008-12-10.
  36. ^ Haitians, Center for Cultural & Eco-Tourism, University of Louisiana. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  37. ^ "Katrina Effect: LA Tops Nation in Income Growth". 2theadvocate.com. 2007. http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/6728801.html.
  38. ^ "Louisiana's already-declining seafood industry could be wiped out". MiamiHerald.com. May 15, 2010.
  39. ^ [2] linked from [3], accessed September 28, 2006
  40. ^ Troeh, Eve (1 February 2007). "Louisiana to be Southern Filmmaking Capital?". VOA News (Voice of America). http://voanews.com/english/archive/2007-02/2007-02-01-voa58.cfm. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
  41. ^ New Jersey Local Jobs - NJ.com
  42. ^ Shevory, Kristina. "The Fiery Family," New York Times, March 31, 2007, p. B1.
  43. ^ Economy
  44. ^ World Culture Economic Forum
  45. ^ Bls.gov; Local Area Unemployment Statistics
  46. ^ "State Unemployment Trends by Race, Ethnicity and Gender" (PDF).
  47. ^ "Despite BP oil spill, Louisiana still loves Big Oil". CSMonitor.com. May 24, 2010.
  48. ^ "EIA State Energy Profiles: Louisiana". 2008-06-12. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=LA. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  49. ^ http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=111053
  50. ^ http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=111041
  51. ^ http://www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?doc=109401
  52. ^ http://www.lsp.org/about_hist.html. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
  53. ^ U.S. college athletics by state
  54. ^ French Creole Heritage
  55. ^ Statistics of languages spoken in Louisiana [4] Retrieved on June 18, 2008.
  56. ^ Louisiana State Constitution of 1974 [5] Retrieved on June 18, 2008.
  57. ^ http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/22_2000.asp
  58. ^ For Louisiana's position in a larger religious context, see Bible Belt.
  59. ^ "Louisiana". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Louisiana.
  60. ^ Other Southern states—such as Maryland and Texas—have longstanding indigenous Catholic populations, and Florida's largely Catholic population of Cuban emigres has been influential since the 1960s. Yet, Louisiana is still unusual or exceptional in its extent of aboriginal Catholic settlement and influence. Among states in the Deep South (discounting Florida's Panhandle and much of Texas) the historic role of Catholicism in Louisiana is unparalleled and unique. Among the states of the Union, Louisiana's unique use of the term parish (French la parouche or "la paroisse") for county is rooted in the pre-statehood role of Catholic church parishes in the administration of government.
  61. ^ a b c d e f g h Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
  62. ^ Isaacs, Ronald H. The Jewish Information Source Book: A Dictionary and Almanac, Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1993. p. 202.

Bibliography

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Mayors of cities with populations of 100,000 in Louisiana
  1. Mitch Landrieu (New Orleans)
  1. Kip Holden (Baton Rouge)
  1. Cedric Glover (Shreveport)
  1. Joey Durel (Lafayette)
Coordinates: 31°N 92°W / 31°N 92°W
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Preceded by Ohio List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on April 30, 1812 (18th) Succeeded by Indiana

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When will I receive my Louisiana state tax?
Q. I have been waiting for 3 months now and I still haven't received my Louisiana state tax.
Asked by lakandrarogers_09 - Mon Mar 24 14:58:12 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Since March is not yet over, you could not have been waiting three months for your 2007 Louisiana income tax refund, since you could not have filed it until January, 2008. In any event, here is the link to check on the status of your refund: https://webtax2.rev.louis iana.gov/status/refund/
Answered by Richard M - Mon Mar 24 15:35:28 2008

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