|
|
LOUISIANA - USA
Louisiana is a southern state of the United
States of America. It uses the U.S. postal abbreviation LA. The state is
bordered to the west by the state of Texas, to the north by Arkansas, to the
east by the state of Mississippi, and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana has no declared "offical language", but its law recognizes both
English and French.
History
Louisiana was long inhabited by Native American tribes before the arrival of
Europeans. The lasting mark of the Native Americans can be seen even today
in the names used in Louisiana, such as Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now
spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles
Parish).
What follows is a partial list, using current parish boundaries as rough
approximations of locations.
The Atakapa were found in southwestern Louisiana in the parishes of
Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu.
The Chitimachas occupied the southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St
Mary, Lower St. Martin, Terrebone, LaFourche, St. James, St. John the
Baptist, St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.
The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, were found in points directly
north of the Chitimachas, in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa,
Washington, East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany.
The Houma tribe, was found in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee
parishes; Ironically about 100 miles north of current location of the town
named after them.
Portions of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River
were home to the Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation.
The northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, and East and West Carroll were
occupied by the Tunica tribe.
The remainder of current day central and north Louisiana was home to a
substantial portion of the Caddo nation.
The first European explorers to visit what is now Louisiana was a Spanish
expedition in 1528 led by Panfilo de 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 trading outposts and mission settlements in the Illinois
Country, as far north as Peoria, Illinois and a number of settlements in the
area around near present-day Saint Louis, Missouri. See also: French
colonization of the Americas
Initially Biloxi, Mississippi functioned as the capital city of the colony;
from 1722 on New Orleans fulfilled that role.
Most of the territory to the east of the Mississippi was lost to Great
Britain in the French and Indian War, except for the area around New Orleans
and the parishes around Lake Pontchartrain. The rest of Louisiana became a
colony of Spain by the Treaty of Fountainebleau of 1762.
In 1800 France's Napoleon Bonaparte re-acquired Louisiana from Spain in the
Treaty of San Ildefonso, although this was kept secret for some two years.
In 1803 the United States of America purchased the French province of
Louisiana.
The U.S. divided the newly acquired land into two territories: the Orleans
Territory (which became the state of Louisiana in 1812) and the District of
Louisiana (which consisted of all the land not included in Orleans Territory).
The Florida Parishes are annexed from Spanish West Florida by proclamation
of President James Madison in 1810. The western boundary of Louisiana with
Spanish Texas remains disputed until the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, with the
Sabine Free State serving as a neutral buffer zone as well as a haven for
criminals.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France,
including: the use of a civil law legal system, 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. Its governor is Kathleen Blanco and
its two U.S. senators are John B. Breaux and Mary Landrieu (all Democrats).
Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is based on Roman, Spanish,
and French civil law as opposed to British common law. Technically, it is
known as "Civil Law," or the "Civilian System." It is often incorrectly
referred to as the "Code Napoleon" or The Napoleonic Code. It is important
to note that the Louisiana Civil Code and the French Civil Code, often
referred to as the Napoleonic Code, came into existence at roughly the same
time. Louisiana was never governed by the Napoleonic Code.
Great differences still exist between Louisiana Civil Law and the Common Law
found in her 49 sister states. While most of the differences are now found
in verbage, it is important to note that the "Civilian" tradition is still
deeply rooted in all aspects of Louisiana law. Property, contractual, and
family law are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking and
have little in common with English law.
Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in using a runoff in state, local, and
congressional elections. All candidates run in an open primary on Election
Day, in which multiple candidates from the same party may be on the ballot.
If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the
highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month
later. This runoff does not take into account party identification.
Therefore it is common for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow
Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. All
other states use the First Past the Post electoral system to elect Senators,
Representatives, and statewide officials.
Geography
The Mississippi River empties out of the southern portion of the state into
the Gulf of Mexico.
Interstate highways
Interstate 10
Interstate 12
Interstate 20
Interstate 49
Interstate 55
Interstate 59
There are proposed plans to extend Interstate 69 to the Texas/Mexico border,
which will go through north-eastern Louisiana.
United States highways
North-south routes East-west routes
U.S. Highway 11
U.S. Highway 425
U.S. Highway 51
U.S. Highway 61
U.S. Highway 65
U.S. Highway 165
U.S. Highway 167
U.S. Highway 71
U.S. Highway 171
U.S. Highway 371
U.S. Highway 79
U.S. Highway 80
U.S. Highway 84
U.S. Highway 90
U.S. Highway 190
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 including nearly 200,000
native French-speakers.
Education
Colleges and universities
Centenary College of Louisiana
Dillard University
Louisiana College
Louisiana State University System
Louisiana State University at Alexandria
Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, main campus)
Louisiana State University at Eunice
Louisiana State University at Shreveport
University of New Orleans
Loyola University New Orleans
Our Lady of Holy Cross College
Our Lady of the Lake College
Southern University System
Southern University (Baton Rouge, main campus)
Southern University New Orleans
Tulane University
University of Louisiana System
Grambling State University
University of Louisiana at Monroe
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Louisiana Tech University
McNeese State University
Nicholls State University
Northwestern State University
Southeastern Louisiana University
Xavier University of Louisiana
Professional sports teams
Football
National Football League
New Orleans Saints
Arena Football League
New Orleans VooDoo
Other Football leagues
New Orleans Spice - NWFL
Shreveport Bombers - IPFL
Louisiana Bayou Beast - IPFL
Bossier City Battle Wings - AF2
Semi-Pro Football Teams
Baton Rouge Riverboat Bandits - SAFL
Lake Charles RiverKats - SAFL
Minden RoughRiders - SAFL
Lafayette Bayou Bulls - SAFL
Ruston Rage - SAFL
Shreveport Steamers - SAFL
Greater New Orleans Gladiators - SAFL
Hammond Headhunters - SAFL
Louisiana (Houma) Blazing Bulldogs - SAFL
Central Louisiana Warriors - SAFL
Slidell Steelsharks - SAFL
Baseball
Minor League baseball teams
New Orleans Zephyrs
Shreveport Sports
Alexandria Aces
Baton Rouge River Bats
Houma Hawks
New Orleans Pelicans (1887-1959)
New Orleans Creoles (Negro League)
Basketball
National Basketball Association:
New Orleans Jazz (1974) team moved to Salt Lake City and became the Utah
Jazz in 1979
The Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 - Now known as The New
Orleans Hornets.
Hockey
Minor League Hockey
New Orleans Brass (1997 - 2003) - ECHL
Louisiana IceGators - ECHL
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 food: Gumbo
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.
For almost 20 years there was only one amusement park in Louisiana, and it
was called Hamel's Amusement Park.
Disambiguation
There is also a place named Louisiana in the State of Missouri: see
Louisiana, Missouri.
Louisiana is also the name of a museum of modern art close to Copenhagen,
Denmark.
USS Louisiana was named in honor of this state.
|
|
