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Louisiana
State
CountryUnited States
Admitted to the UnionApril 30, 1812 (18th)
CapitalBaton Rouge
Largest cityNew Orleans [1][2]
Largest metro and urban areasNew Orleans metro area
Government
 • GovernorPiyush Darbash Bobby Jindal (R)
 • Upper house{{{Upperhouse}}}
 • Lower house{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senatorsMary Landrieu (D)
David Vitter (R)
Population
 • Total4,468,976
 • Density102.59/sq mi (39.61/km2)
Language
 • Official languagede jure: none
de facto: English & French
 • Spoken languageEnglish 91.2%, French 4.8%, Creole
Latitude28° 56′ N to 33° 01′ N
Longitude88° 49′ W to 94° 03′ W

The State of Louisiana [ /luːˌiːziˈænə/ or /ˌluːziˈænə/, French: État de Louisiane, pronounced [[Media:Louisiane.ogg|/lwizjan/]]] is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge and the most populous city is New Orleans. The largest parish by population is Jefferson Parish and largest by area is Terrebonne Parish (Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties). The New Orleans metropolitan area is Louisiana's largest.

Louisiana has a unique multicultural and multilingual heritage. Originally part of New France, Louisiana is home to many speakers of Cajun French and Louisiana Creole French. African American/Franco-African, and French/French Canadian form the two largest groups of ancestry in Louisiana's population.

Namesake

Louisiana (New France) was named after Louis XIV, king of France from 1643-1715. When René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle claimed the territory drained by the Mississippi River for France, he named it La Louisiane, meaning "Land of Louis". Louisiana was once part of the Louisiana Territory which once stretched from present-day New Orleans to the Canadian border. The territory was acquired in 1803 by the United States by way of the Louisiana Purchase. Part or all of 15 states were formed from the territory.

An alternative explanation of the name is that Louisiana is a combination of Louis the XIV and his wife Anna of Austria. This, however, is false. While his mother was Anne of Austria, Louis the XIV was married to Marie-Thérèse.

Geography

File:National-atlas-louisiana.PNG
Map of Louisiana

Topography

The state is bordered to the west by the state of Texas; to the north by Arkansas; to the east by the state of Mississippi; and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico.

The surface of the state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands, and the alluvial, coast and swamp regions. The alluvial regions, including the low swamps and coast lands, cover an area of about 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²); they lie principally along the Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 miles (1,000 km) and ultimately emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, the Red River, the Ouachita River and its branches, and other minor streams. The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles (15 to 100 km), and along the other streams it averages about 10 miles (15 km). The Mississippi flows upon a ridge formed by its own deposits, from which the lands incline toward the low swamps beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile (3 m/km). The alluvial lands along other streams present very similar features. These alluvial lands are never inundated, save when breaks occur in the levees by which they are protected against the floods of the Mississippi and its tributaries. These floods, however, do not occur annually, and they may be said to be exceptional. With the maintenance of strong levees, these alluvial lands would enjoy perpetual immunity from inundation.

The higherlands 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), and 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 the highest point in the state at only 535 feet (163 m) above sea level. Only two other states in the union, Florida and Delaware, are geographically lower than Louisiana, though several other states, such as Kansas and Nebraska, are geographically flatter.

Besides the navigable rivers already named (some of which are called bayous), there are the Sabine (Sah-BEAN), forming the western boundary, and the Pearl, the eastern boundary, the Calcasieu (KAL-cah-shoe), the Mermentau, the Vermilion, the Teche, the Atchafalaya, the Boeuf (buff), the Lafourche (Luff-OOSH), the Courtableau, the D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas (TEN-saw), the Amite, the Tchefuncte, the Tickfaw, the Natalbany, and a number of other streams of lesser note, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles in length, which is unequalled in the United States. 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).

Climate

Louisiana has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa), perhaps the most "classic" example of a humid subtropical climate of all the Southeastern 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, and there is a dip in precipitation in October, with Southern Louisiana receiving 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, temperatures frequently 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 averaging more thunderstorms than any other state except Florida. Louisiana averages 27 tornadoes annually, and the entire state is vulnerable to a tornado strike, with the extreme southern portion of the state slightly less 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.[5]

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Louisiana Cities °F/°C
City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Baton Rouge 62/42 17/6 65/44 18/7 72/51 22/11 78/57 26/14 84/64 29/18 89/70 32/21 91/73 33/23 91/72 33/22 88/68 31/20 81/57 27/14 71/48 22/9 64/43 18/6
Lake Charles 62/43 17/6 65/47 18/8 70/51 21/11 78/59 26/15 85/66 29/19 90/72 32/22 92/74 33/23 92/74 33/23 88/70 31/21 81/59 27/15 69/49 21/9 64/45 18/7
New Orleans 64/44 18/7 66/47 19/8 73/53 23/12 79/59 26/15 85/66 29/19 90/72 32/22 91/74 33/23 91/74 33/23 88/70 31/21 80/61 27/16 72/52 22/11 65/46 18/8
Shreveport 56/36 13/2 61/39 16/4 69/46 21/8 77/54 25/12 84/62 29/17 90/69 32/8 93/73 34/23 93/71 34/22 87/66 31/19 78/55 26/13 67/44 19/7 59/38 15/3
[4]

Hurricanes

  • August 29, 2005, Katrina (Category 4 at landfall[6]) struck and devastated southeastern Louisiana, while damaged levees in New Orleans allowed parts of the city to flood. The city was virtually closed until October. It is estimated that more than two million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the hurricane, with more than 1,500 fatalities in Louisiana alone. Public outcry criticized the government at the local, state, and federal levels, citing that the response was neither fast nor adequate. The hurricane and the challenge to protect wetlands are featured in the documentary film Hurricane on the Bayou.

Further information: [[:Effect of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana and Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans]]
  • August 1992, Andrew (Category 3 at landfall) struck south-central Louisiana, killing 4 people, knocking out power to nearly 150,000 citizens and destroying hundreds of millions of dollars of crops in the state.
  • September 9, 1965, Betsy (Category 3 at landfall) came ashore in Louisiana causing massive destruction, being the first hurricane in history to cause one billion dollars in damage (over ten billion in inflation-adjusted USD). The storm hit New Orleans particularly hard by flooding approximately 35% of the city (including the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly, and parts of Mid-City), pushing the death toll in the state to 76.
  • August 1969, Camille (Category 5) had a 23.4 ft. storm surge and killed 250 people. Although Camille officially made landfall in Mississippi and the worst impacts were felt there, it effects were still felt in Louisiana. However, New Orleans was spared from the brunt of the storm and remained dry with the exception of some mild rain-generated flooding in only the extremely low-lying areas.
  • June 1957, Audrey (Category 4) devastated southwest Louisiana, destroying or severely damaging 60–80 percent of the homes and businesses from Cameron to Grand Chenier. 40,000 people were left homeless and over 300 people were killed in the state.

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.

Owing to the extensive flood control measures along the Mississippi river and to natural subsidence, Louisiana is now suffering the loss of coastal land area. State and federal government efforts to halt or reverse this phenomenon are under way; 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.

Protected areas

Louisiana contains a number of areas which are, in varying degrees, protected from human intervention. In addition to several stations of the National Park Service, and a federally recognized national forest, Louisiana itself operates, among other programs, 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
Areas under the management and protection of the National Park Service include:

National Forest

State parks and recreational areas
Louisiana operates a system of 19 state parks, 16 state historic sites and one state preservation area.

History

See main article: History of Louisiana

Early settlement

Louisiana was inhabited by Native Americans when European explorers arrived in the 17th century. Many place names in the state are transliterations of those used in Native American dialects. Among the tribes that inhabited what is now Louisiana included the Atakapa, the Opelousa, the Acolapissa, the Tangipahoa, the Chitimacha in the southeast of the state, the Washa, the Chawasha, the Yagenechito, the Bayougoula and the Houma (part of the Choctaw nation), the Quinipissa, the Okelousa, the Avoyel and the Taensa (part of the Natchez nation), the Tunica, and the Koroa. Central and northwest Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation and the Natchitoches confederacy consisting of the Natchitoches, the Yatasi, the Nakasa, the Doustioni, the Quachita, and the Adai.[7]

Exploration and colonization by Europeans

Louisiana regions

The first European explorers to visit Louisiana came in 1528. The Spanish expedition (led by Panfilo de Narváez) located the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1541, Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed the region. 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.

The French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor France's King Louis XIV in 1682. 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.

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 Nachitoches. 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, a pattern repeated in New Orleans and other places.

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 Peoria, Illinois and 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 Louisiana Purchase made the region part of the United States on December 20, 1803, France and Spain would trade 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.

Most of the territory to the east of the Mississippi was lost to the Kingdom of 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 after the Seven Years' War by the Treaty of Paris of 1763.

During the period of Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia (now Nova Scotia, Canada) made their way to Louisiana following British expulsion; settling largely in the southwestern Louisiana region now called Acadiana. The Acadian refugees were welcomed by the Spanish, and descendants came to be called Cajuns.

Canary Islanders, called Isleños, migrated 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 some two years.

Purchase by the United States

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 build a flatboat and float down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the port of New Orleans, from which 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 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 of 1801 he sent a large military force to retake the important island of Santo Domingo, lost in a slave revolt in the 1790s.

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 for up to $2 million of the City of New Orleans, portions of the east bank of the Mississippi, and free navigation of the river for U.S. commerce.

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, a strange thing happened. 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, and 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 special envoy to Napoleon, to assist in obtaining New Orleans for the United States. Jefferson boosted the authorized expenditure of funds to $10 million.

On April 11, 1803, Talleyrand asked Robert Livingston how much the United States was prepared to pay for Louisiana. Livingston was confused, as his instructions only covered the purchase of New Orleans and the immediate area, not the entire Louisiana territory. James Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time. To wait for 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 828,000 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 87 1/2 per each $100 unit. As a result, Napoleon received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana. Dutiful 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 - and Napoleon used these funds to wage war against Baring's own country.

When news of the purchase reached the United States, President 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 in the autumn of 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 ran the stars and stripes 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 literally 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, and its consequent rise to the status of world power.

Demographics

Louisiana Population Density Map

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
181076,556—
1820153,407100.4%
1830215,73940.6%
1840352,41163.4%
1850517,76246.9%
1860708,00236.7%
1870726,9152.7%
1880939,94629.3%
18901,118,58819.0%
19001,381,62523.5%
19101,656,38819.9%
19201,798,5098.6%
19302,101,59316.9%
19402,363,51612.5%
19502,683,51613.5%
19603,257,02221.4%
19703,641,30611.8%
19804,205,90015.5%
19904,219,9730.3%
20004,468,9765.9%

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 center of population of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of New Roads [5].

The oldest Louisianian ever was Addie Cook. Cook, a lifetime New Orleanian, was born on August 27, 1867 and died on December 3, 1978, at the age of 111 in a New Orleans nursing home.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 4.66% of the population aged 5 and over speak French or Cajun French at home, while 2.53% speak Spanish [6].

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

The six largest ancestries in the state of Louisiana are:

African-American and Franco-African Population

Louisiana is home to 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 African-American heritage and those who consider themselves Franco-African or Créole, though their respective cultural identities may be quite different.

Franco-Africans and African-American blacks, who made up a majority of the state's population during much of the 19th century, dominate much of the southeast, central, and northern parts of the state, particularly those parishes along the Mississippi River valley. But in recent years, the percentage of whites in those areas has grown, as large numbers of white senior citizens have begun to relocate there because of the friendly atmosphere, mild winters, low taxes, and beautiful scenery.

Creole and Cajun Population

Creoles and Cajuns of French Canadian and Acadian ancestry are dominant in much of the southern part of the state. While many people elsewhere in the United States use "creole" to refer to mixed-race peoples, Louisiana creoles also may be whites of French ancestry or people of predominantly African backgrounds. The creole population also includes people of Spanish ancestry, most notably Isleños of Canary Islander ancestry, who live along the southern Gulf coast.

Other Europeans

New Orleans was one of the only large cities in the Southern United States in the nineteenth century, and it attracted a sizeable number of Irish, German, and Italian immigrants. Before the Louisiana Purchase, some German families also settled in a rural area along the lower Mississippi valley, then known as the German Coast, and assimilated into Cajun and Creole communities.

Southern White Population

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

Hispanics and Latinos

New Orleans has long had close connections to Latin America and the Caribbean. Many immigrants and exiles arrived from Cuba and Honduras beginning in the nineteenth century. In recent years, Mexican immigration has increased. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a large number of naturalized and undocumented Latino immigrants have become workers in the construction and service industries. The descendants of earlier Spanish-speaking arrivals, such as the Isleños and other Spanish creoles, may identify as white European Americans rather than as Hispanics or Latinos.

Asians

Louisiana's Asian population includes the descendants of Chinese workers arrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, often from the Caribbean. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of Vietnamese and other southeast Asian refugees came to the Gulf Coast to work in the fishing and shrimping industries.About 95% of Louisiana's Asian population resides in New Orleans.

An estimate made in 2006 shows that 50,209 Asians live in Louisiana.

Economy

Louisiana was the first site of oil drilling over water in the world, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The oil and gas industry as well as its subsidiary industries such as transport and refining, have dominated Louisiana's economy since the 1940's. 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, which stored vast reservoirs of oil and natural gas.

When oil and gas boomed in the 1970's, so did Louisiana's economy. Likewise, when the oil and gas crash occurred in the 1980's, in large part due to monetary policy set by the Federal Reserve (the U.S. Central Bank), so did Louisiana real estate, savings and loans, as well as local banks crash. The Louisiana economy as well as its politics of the last half-century cannot be understood without thoroughly accounting for the influence of the oil & gas industries, which since the 1980's have consolidated in Houston.

Louisiana State Quarter
Louisiana State Quarter

The total gross state product in 2005 for Louisiana was US168 billion, placing it 24th in the nation. Its per capita personal income is US$30,952, ranking 41st in the United States.[8]

The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood (It is the biggest producer of crayfish in the world), 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.

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. It is the largest bulk cargo port in the world.[9]

Louisiana has 3 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.

Transportation

see List of numbered highways in Louisiana

Intracoastal waterway in Louisiana near New Orleans

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

Law and government

Further information: [[:List of Louisiana Governors, Louisiana law]]

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 current Louisiana governor is Kathleen Blanco. The current U.S. senators are Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven congressional districts, represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by five Republican and two Democrats. Louisiana has nine votes in the Electoral College.

The Louisiana political and legal structure has maintained several elements from the time of French governance. One is the use of the term "parish" in place of "county" for administrative subdivision. Another is the legal system based on civil law, based on French, German and Spanish legal codes and ultimately Roman law—as opposed to English common law, which is based on precedent, which is "judge-made" law and is used in all other U.S. states. However, Louisiana's civil law system is what the majority of sovereign countries in the world use, especially in Europe and its former colonies - excluding those that pertained to the British Empire.

Louisiana thus follows the system of most non-Anglophone countries in the world. 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 1870 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 in the United States,[7] 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 of civilian thought 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, and when a set of facts are brought before a judge, he then deduces the court's ruling by comparing the facts of an individual case to the law. To the contrary, the historical 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 being that historical English Judges' were not constrained by any Legislative authority.

Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in its method for state, local, and congressional elections in using a system very similar to that of modern France. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in a nonpartisan blanket primary on Election Day (which is usually on a Saturday). If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This runoff does not take into account party identification; therefore, it is 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. All other states 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.

Louisiana is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd numbered years (The others are Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia). Louisiana holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, the most recent gubernatorial election occured in 2007; the next will occur in 2011, with future gubernatorial elections to take place in 2015, 2019, etc.

Louisiana is also one of 18 states which run separate elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, a process that has resulted in Governor-Lieutenant pairs from different parties and/or widely differing political ideologies. For example, current Governor Kathleen Blanco (a Democrat) previously served two terms as Lieutenant Governor under Mike Foster (a Republican).

Louisiana has a statewide police force, the Louisiana State Police. It began in 1922 and its motto is "courtesy, loyalty, service." 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. However, Orleans parish is the only parish in which troopers don't patrol. New Orleans Police Dept. has immediate jursidition of Orleans parish. Troopers are also responsible for investigating the casino and gaming industry, all hazardous material incidents, anti-terrorism training and general criminal, narcotics and insurance fraud investigations.

Each parish in Louisiana has an elected sheriff, with the exception of Orleans Parish. It has two elected sheriffs - one criminal and one civil. The sheriffs are responsible for general law enforcement in their respective parish. Orleans Parish is also an exception to this rule, as here the general law enforcement duties fall to the New Orleans Police Department. The sheriff also controls and manages the parish jail and/or correctional facility. The sheriff is also the tax collector for each parish. 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.

See also Louisiana State Police, LA Sheriff's Association, LA Parish Government

Parishes, urban areas and villages

Further information:

Education

Further information:

Louisiana is the only state in the US that has parishes instead of counties.

Sports teams

As of 2005 Louisiana is nominally the least populous state with more than one major professional sports league franchise: the New Orleans Hornets, the Arena Football League's New Orleans VooDoo, and the National Football League's New Orleans Saints. 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.[10]

Further information

Culture

Dishes typical of Louisiana Creole cuisine.

Louisiana is home to many distinct cultures, especially notable are the Louisiana Creole people and the French-speaking Cajun.

The ancestors of Creoles came to Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from Western Europe France, Germany, Spain, and from Senegal (West Africa) and settled along the major waterways in the State. The blending of these disparate lifestyles is called "Creole" and continued as the dominant cultural, social, economic and political lifestyle of Louisiana well into the 20th century when it would finally be overtaken by the Anglo-American mainstream.

The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-speaking people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. 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, the Falkland Islands, with the majority finding final 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 derogatory. But, 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 Canary Islanders who migrated to Louisiana under the Spanish crown beginning in the mid-1770s. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, where the majority of the Isleno population is still concentrated today.

Languages

As of 2000, 91.2% of Louisiana residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 4.8% speak French. Spanish is spoken by 2.5% of the population, Vietnamese is at 0.6% and German is at 0.2%.

Among the states, Louisiana has a unique culture, owing to its French colonial heritage. While the state has no declared "official language," its law recognizes both English and French.

There are several unique dialects of both French, Creole and English spoken in Louisiana. First, 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 as well as Haitian Creole. 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 Brooklyn).

Due to the increase in Spanish-speaking workers in the area since Hurricane Katrina an increase in Spanish has also been obvious in the cities.

Religion

Like the other Southern states, Louisiana is mostly Protestant; however, there is also a large native Catholic population in the state, particularly in the southern part of the state, which makes Louisiana unique among Southern states. The current religious affiliations of the people of Louisiana are shown in the table below:

A number of cities in Louisiana are also home to Jewish communities, notably Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.[11] The most significant of these is the Jewish community of the New Orleans area, with a pre-Katrina population of about 12,000.

Music

See Music of Louisiana

See also

References

  1. ^ "Expert: N.O. population at 273,000". WWL-TV. August 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ "Relocation". Connecting U.S. Cities. 3 May 2007.
  3. ^ "Estimates of post-Katrina populations". United States Census Bureau. 2006.
  4. ^ a b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". U.S Geological Survey. 29 April 2005. Retrieved November 6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ [1] NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 24, 2006.
  6. ^ Stewart, Stacy (August 23, 2005). "Tropical Depression Twelve, Discussion No. 1, 5:00 p.m. EDT". National Hurricane Center. Retrieved 2007-07-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Sturdevent, William C. (1967): Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks, Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States).
  8. ^ "Katrina Effect: LA Tops Nation in Income Growth". 2theadvocate.com. 2007.
  9. ^ [2] linked from [3], accessed 28 Sep 2006
  10. ^ U.S. college athletics by state
  11. ^ Isaacs, Ronald H. The Jewish Information Source Book: A Dictionary and Almanac. Jason Aronson, Inc., Northvale, NJ, 1993. p. 202.

Bibliography

  • Yiannopoulos, A.N., The Civil Codes of Louisiana (reprinted from Civil Law System: Louisiana and Comparative law, A Coursebook: Texts, Cases and Materials, 3d Edition; similar to version in preface to Louisiana Civil Code, ed. by Yiannopoulos)
  • Rodolfo Batiza, The Louisiana Civil Code of 1808: Its Actual Sources and Present Relevance, 46 TUL. L. REV. 4 (1971); Rodolfo Batiza, Sources of the Civil Code of 1808, Facts and Speculation: A Rejoinder, 46 TUL. L. REV. 628 (1972); Robert A. Pascal, Sources of the Digest of 1808: A Reply to Professor Batiza, 46 TUL. L. REV. 603 (1972); Joseph M. Sweeney, Tournament of Scholars Over the Sources of the Civil Code of 1808,46 TUL. L. REV. 585 (1972).
  • The standard history of the state, though only through the Civil War, is Charles Gayarré's History of Louisiana (various editions, culminating in 1866, 4 vols., with a posthumous and further expanded edition in 1885).
  • A number of travel relations by 17th and 18th century French explorers, among whom the following at least should be cited: Jean-Bernard Bossu, François-Marie Perrin du Lac, Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix, Dumont (as published by Fr. Mascrier), Fr. Louis Hennepin, Lahontan, Louis Narcisse Baudry des Lozières, Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe, and Laval. In this group, the explorer Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz may be considered the first historian of Louisiana with his Histoire de la Louisiane (3 vols., Paris, 1758; 2 vols., London, 1763)
  • François Xavier Martin's History of Louisiana (2 vols., New Orleans, 1827–1829, later ed. by J. F. Condon, continued to 1861, New Orleans, 1882) is the first scholarly treatment of the subject, along with François Barbé-Marbois' Histoire de la Louisiane et de la cession de colonie par la France aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1829; in English, Philadelphia, 1830).
  • Alcée Fortier's A History of Louisiana (N.Y., 4 vols., 1904) is the most recent of the large-scale scholarly histories of the state.
  • The official works of Albert Phelps and Grace King should also be mentioned among the more important, as well as the publications of the Louisiana Historical Society and several works on the history of New Orleans (q.v.), among them those by Henry Rightor and John Kendall Smith.


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