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Louisiana
Louisiana is a southern state of
the United States of America. It
uses the U.S. postal abbreviation LA.
State nickname: Pelican State
Louisiana 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.
Capital Baton Rouge
Largest City New Orleans
Ranked 31st
Area
- Total 134,382 km²
- Land 112,927 km²
- Water 21,455 km²
- % water 16%
Population Ranked 22nd
- Total (2000) 4,468,976
- Density 33/km²
Admittance into
History Union 18th
- Order
Louisiana was long inhabited by - Date April 30, 1812
Native American tribes before the Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
arrival of Europeans. The lasting
mark of the Native Americans can be Latitude 29æN to 33æN
seen even today in the names used Longitude 89æW to 94æW
in Louisiana, such as Atchafalaya, Width 210 km
Natchitouches (now spelled Length 610 km
Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Elevation
Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles -Highest 163 meters
Parish). -Mean 30 meters
What follows is a partial list, -Lowest -2.5 meters
using current parish boundaries as
rough approximations of locations. ISO 3166-2: US-LA
* 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.
Source: Sturdevent, William C. (1967). Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and
Linguistic Stocks, Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States)
The first European explorers to visit what is now Louisiana was a Spanish
expedition in 1528 led by Panfilo de Navaez 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 little European settlement north of present-day Saint
Louis, Missouri other than fur-trappers and small trading posts. 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 Ildefonse, although this was kept secret for some two years.
In 1803 the United States of America purchased the Louisiana territory from
the French Republic.
The southern portion of the Louisiana Territory was granted statehood within
the USA in 1812.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France,
including: the use of a civil law legal system, 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", French as an
official language (the only state that has French as an official language),
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
Lousiana 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 and its governor is Murphy J. "Mike"
Foster (Republican). Its two U.S. senators are John B. Breaux and Mary
Landrieu, (both Democrats)
Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is based on Roman civil law
as opposed to British common law. Technically, it is known as "Code
Napoleon" or The Napoleonic Code. It is simply the aforementioned Roman
civil law in written form, in order to be applied uniformly, and understood
by everyone.
The differences between the Napoleonic Code and the laws of the rest of the
United States are academic after all of this time. Commercial laws have been
updated to reflect laws in other states, as well as federal law. Civil
matters retain a bit more of Naploeon's influence, but are nearly in line
with most other states.
Geography
The Mississippi River empties out of the southern portion of the state into
the Gulf of Mexico.
Economy
The total gross state product in 1999 for Louisiana was $129 billion,
placing it 24th in the nation. Its Per Capita Personal Income was $23,334,
45th 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
As of 2000, the state's population was 4,468,976.
Important Cities and Towns
* New Orleans * Lafayette * Ruston
* Baton Rouge * Covington
* Shreveport * Alexandria
* Lake Charles * Slidell
Education
Colleges and Universities
* Centenary College of Louisiana * Northwestern State University of
* Dillard University Louisiana
* Grambling State University * Our Lady of Holy Cross College
* Louisiana College * Our Lady of the Lake College
* Louisiana State University * Southeastern Louisiana
System University
o Louisiana State University * Southern University System
at Alexandria o Southern University Baton
o Louisiana State University Rouge
at Baton Rouge o Southern University New
o Louisiana State University Orleans
at Eunice * Tulane University
o Louisiana State University * University of Louisiana System
at Shreveport o University of Louisiana at
* Louisiana Tech University Monroe
* Loyola University New Orleans o University of Louisiana at
* McNeese State University Lafayette
* Nicholls State University * University of New Orleans
* Xavier University of Louisiana
Professional Sports Teams
Football
* National Football League
o New Orleans Saints
Baseball
* Minor League baseball teams
o New Orleans Zephyrs
o Shreveport Captains
o Alexandria Aces
o Baton Rouge River Bats
o Houma Hawks
o New Orleans Pelicans (1887-1959)
o New Orleans Creoles (Negro League) (dates?)
Basketball
* National Basketball Association:
o New Orleans Jazz (1974) team moved to Salt Lake City and became
the Utah Jazz in 1979
o The Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 - Now known as
The New Orleans Hornets.
Hockey
* Minor League Hockey
o Louisiana IceGators - ECHL
o Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - CHL
Miscellaneous Information
* State dog : Catahoula Leopard Dog
* State bird : Eastern Brown Pelican
* State flower: Magnolia
* State tree : Bald Cypress
* State mammal : Louisiana Black Bear
* State wild flower : Louisiana Iris
* State reptile : American Alligator
* State insect: Honeybee
* State crustacean : Crawfish
* State amphibian: Green Tree Frog
* State songs: You Are My Sunshine, Every Man a King, and Give Me
Louisiana
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.
There is also a place named Louisiana in the State of Missouri: see
Louisiana, Missouri.
USS Louisiana was named in honor of this state.
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