The Louisiana (in English Louisiana ) is a State Southern of the the United States, surrounded in the west by the Texas, in north by the Arkansas, in the east by the the Mississippi and in the south by the Gulf of Mexico. According to the last American census federal, Louisiana counts 7% of French-speaking people (primarily Cadiens, Créoles French-speaking people and Amerindian old Houma and Chétimacha) what makes the State of it more " francophone" the United States (the percentage of French-speaking people would be even higher there than with the anglophone Canada where it is only of 4%).

History

Amerindians

The Amerindian are the first inhabitants of the area. They lived resources of fishing, hunting and agriculture. The arrival of Europeans meant their decline, in particular demographic by the viral contaminations (Variole and Vérole). The tribes were distributed as follows:

  • the Bayougoula S , one of the nations Choctaw , were disseminated in the parishes of:

    • Grey waxbill,
    • Tangipahoa,
    • Washington,
    • Stick-Red Is and Paroisse of Western Baton-Rouge,
    • Livingston,
    • Saint-Tammany.

  • the Houma S were on the parishes of Félicianne and Point-Crossed the. The original localization is to 160 km in the North of the town of Houma. The colonial expansion pushed Houmas more and more towards this city. Houmas current are mainly bilingual English/French cadien and are along the coast of the parishes Terrebonne and Lafourche.

  • Certain zones of the parishes of Avoyelles and Concordie at the edge of the Mississippi were populated by the Avoyelle S , and the Natchez .

  • In the North-East, the Tunica S (Parishes of Tensas, Madison, East Caroll and West Caroll).

  • the other areas of the North and the center of the state were populated by the nation Caddo . Source: Sturdevent, William C. (1967).

European colonization

  • 1682 : Cavelier of the Room, come from the News-France explores the basin of the the Mississippi to its mouth and gives to this immense territory the name of Louisiana in the honor of the king of France, Louis XIV.
  • 18th century: The territory of Louisiana extends from the Big lakes until the Gulf of Mexico. It then includes/understands a good part of what was going to become the mid-west of the the United States, including ten current American States (Arkansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and current Louisiana) as well as pieces of the futures Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota and Texas.
  • 1714 : Foundation of the Natchitoches by Louis Juchereau of Saint-Denis.
  • 1718 : Foundation of La Nouvelle-Orléans, baptized thus in the honor of the Philippe Regent of Orleans. It becomes capital of Louisiana in 1722.
  • 1719 : Jean-Baptiste Bénard of the Toothing-stone went up the red Rivière, met the Snakes (Comanche) then explored the Oklahoma and part of the Colorado.
  • 1724 : Etienne Vényard, Sieur de Bourgmont went up the river of the Missouri with several soldiers (of which the Gaillard soldier who will meet the first Padoucas (Comanche)). He explored the Kansas, met the Indians Canzes (Kansa) and signed a peace treaty with quarrelsome Padoucas.
  • 1738 : Pierre Gauthier of Varennes, sior of Vérendrye, explored the Canadian west and his/her François son reached the Rocky Mountains in 1740 and explored the areas of the Montana and the Wyoming.
  • 1739 : Pierre and Paul Mallet left the Canada and united Santa Fe (New Mexico).
  • 1762 : In consequence of the defeat of the War Seven Year old, France yields Louisiana to the Spain (Traité of Fontainebleau), at the same time as it gives up the Canada with the Great Britain.
  • 1763 : By the Treaty of Paris, France yields to England the oriental party of Louisiana.
  • 1800 : Restitution by the Spain of Louisiana to the France within the framework of the Treated of San Ildefonso.
  • May 3rd 1803: Napoleon sells Louisiana with the the United States, for 15 million dollars, an enormous sum for the young American State. Detailed article: Sale of Louisiana.

XIXe century

The chart opposite watch Louisiana such as it was presented in 1800, between the Spanish possessions (in yellow) and the United States (in green).

  • F: Florida, acquired in 1819 by the United States.
  • M: The Mississippi, limiting Is of Louisiana
  • L: The American State of Louisiana formed in 1812


  • 1812 : Louisiana is allowed within the Union, the April 30th 1812, becoming thus the 18th American State. At that time, Louisiana was the first and the only State of the Union in which a nonanglophone group, descendants the Acadian ones - Cadiens - and of French and Spaniards them Créoles-, constituted a linguistic majority. Thanks to the lawyer Louis Black-Lislet, a more complete Civil code (than the precedent based on the Habit of Paris) resting on the Napoleon Code was adopted by the legislator of the new State. This code had been written in French, then translated into English. The French translation remains still today the version with the most capacity at the times of problems of interpretation of the English version.

  • 1849 : Baton-Rouge becomes the capital of the State.

  • 1861 : Like other Slave states, Louisiana made secession in 1861. This one did not want to release its slaves who worked in the plantations and ensured the richnesses of these exploitations managed by the white Creoles. In 1862 the federal troops entered to Louisiana and started to invest the forts Pike, Jackson and St Philip. The Louisianian authorities called upon the patriotism of the white Creoles to fight North.

  • 1864 : New constitution which devotes English like one of the official languages to protect the rights of the anglophone inhabitants.

XXe century

  • 1916 : Prohibition to use French in the schools and the hearths.

  • 1921 : The Louisianian Constitution authorizes the use only of the only English language.

  • 1941 - 1945: The Louisianians take part in the Second world war; the young French-speaking people are privileged on the continent of Europe.

  • 1968 : CODOFIL (the Council for the development of French in Louisiana), organization of State charged to promote French in Louisiana is created, on the initiative of James Domengeaux, representative (appointed) and French-speaking lawyer. Thereafter, Louisiana becomes officially bilingual and the teaching of French as second language at the school becomes obligatory. The laws of 1968 in favor of the French-speaking rebirth are voted unanimously by the Room of the representatives and the Senate of Louisiana.

  • 1971 : Edwin Edwards is the first French-speaking governor of Louisiana at the XXe century.

Recent history

  • 2005 : The Hurricane Katrina devastation south of Louisiana obliging the totality of the inhabitants of New-Orleans to evacuate the city.

Administration

See the list of the Parishes of the State of Louisiana.

The State of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes. Name “parish” comes from the mode of French administration and the administrative role is equivalent to that of the counties of the remainder of the United States

Twinnings

Principal cities

  • La Nouvelle-Orléans, metropolis.

  • Baton-Rouge ( Stick-Red in French), capital of State.
  • Shreveport .
  • Lafayette, French-speaking cultural capital and creolophone.
  • Lake-Charles.
  • Town of Bossier.
  • Monroe .

Policy

Louisiana is a popular State, relatively poor, democratic Southerner of long tradition . Like all the other States of the south, Louisiana leans with the 21e century towards the republican .

At the time of the presidential election of 1948, the Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond arrived at the head of the candidates with 49,07% of the votes. In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower was the first republican to gain Louisiana. In 1968, the segregationist candidate George Wallace arrived there at the head with 48,32% of the voices. Bill Clinton is the last democrat to have gained Louisiana in 1996.

At the time of the presidential elections of 2004, the republican George W. Bush obtained there 56,72% of the voices compared with 42,22% with the democratic candidate John Kerry.

The governor of Lousiane since 2004, the democrat Kathleen Blanco, will yield his station in January 2008 to the republican Bobby Jindal, first indo-American elected at such a station.

At the local level, at the time of the session 2007 - 2008, the Lower House of 105 members is dominated by 62 democrats and the Senate of 39 members by 24 democrats.

At the federal level, the two senators of the State are the independent democrat Mary Landrieu (catalogued like DINO) and the preserving republican David Vitter. Louisiana includes/understands seven elected officials with the Chambre of the Representatives of the United States from which five are republican and two democrats.

Economy

Agriculture

Agriculture was very prosperous a long time thanks to its semi-tropical climate. Among the agricultural resources, one counts the Maïs, the Riz, the Blé, the Soja, the Coton, the Canne with sugar, the Fruit S, the Légume S and the Sweet potato. The recent cyclones and international competition (in particular with the Brazil) cause an important crisis.

30% of the seafood and fish of the the United States come from Louisiana. It is the first producing State of Crevette S.

Industries

The state concentrates part of the Raffinerie S of the country, and is the entrance point of part of the Pétrole produces in the Gulf of Mexico. The Ouragan Katrina seriously damaged part of the installations in 2005.

Tertiary sector

Tourist industry concentrates in the big cities of the coast, and is very related to the activities of numerous the casino S which are there.

Culture

See the articles on the French cadien and the Creole Louisianian. Several dialects of French are spoken in the State, including French cadien, colonial French, French napoleonic, metropolitan French, Swiss French and Belgian French. There also exist also two dialects of the Creole spoken in the state: the Louisianian Creole (who resembles more to the Creole seychellois and to Mauritian) as well as a dialect which approaches the Haitian Creole.

The French and the Creole are spoken mainly in the triangle including/understanding 23 parishes in the extreme south about the state located at the west about the Mississippi. The town of Lafayette is there the cultural capital free and créolophone.

The practice of these languages is in Net decline, although since very recently, she knows a renewal.

  • the Council for the development of French in Louisiana

Nature

  • the the Mississippi
  • the Bayou S
  • the lakes
  • Fauna and flora

Cook

  • Chevrette S

  • Crayfish
  • Choked
  • Jambalaya
  • Gumbo Ragoût which draws its name from the imported vegetable of Africa in America. Gombo is used to thicken sauce of this dish and gives him a gelatinous consistency
  • Andouille
  • Boudin
  • Alligator

Sports

  • New Orleans Saints (NFL)
  • New Orleans Hornets (NBA)

Symbols

See too

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