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White Americans in Louisiana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White Americans in Louisiana
Total population
2.857 million (2020)
Regions with significant populations
North Louisiana[1]
Languages
Southern American English, Louisiana French, Cajun English, Spanish, German, Italian
Religion
Christianity[2]

White Americans make up 57.1% of Louisiana’s population according to the official 2020 census.[3] White Americans are the largest ethnic group in Louisiana. Many are of French and Cajun ancestry. Germans also settled in New Orleans and Louisiana.[4] Many whites are also of British and Irish ancestry in Louisiana. Irish, Germans, and Italians are more recent European immigrants in Louisiana.[5]

History

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The first Europeans to explore Louisiana were the Spanish.[6] European explorers first encountered Louisiana in the 1500s and 1600s. Europeans didn’t start settling the land until the 1700s. The earliest known explorers in Louisiana were Alonso Alverez de Piñeda in 1519 and Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1528, who possibly crossed present-day Louisiana or possibly floated by Louisiana's coastline. Moscoso de Alverdo of Hernando de Soto's crew sailed by the future site of New Orleans on his way to Mexico, although de Soto had died. The Frenchmen were the first Europeans to claim the land.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The United States of America. p. 713.
  2. ^ "Whites who are in Louisiana".
  3. ^ "Louisiana's population Was 4,657,757 in 2020".
  4. ^ "German Settlers in Louisiana and New Orleans | The Historic New Orleans Collection". www.hnoc.org.
  5. ^ Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972.
  6. ^ "Colonial Louisiana". 23 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Early European Explorers - Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)".
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Further reading

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  • Louisiana Beyond Black and White: New Interpretations of Twentieth-century Race and Race Relations.
  • Virginia R. Domínguez (1986). White by Definition: Social Classification in Creole Louisiana.