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| State nickname: Pelican State | |||||
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Other U.S. States | |||||
| Capital | Baton Rouge | ||||
| Largest City | New Orleans | ||||
| Area
- Total - Land - Water - % water | Ranked 31st
134,382 km² 112,927 km² 21,455 km² 16% | ||||
| Population
- Total (2000) - Density | Ranked 22nd
4,468,976 33/km² | ||||
| Admittance into Union
- Order - Date |
18th April 30, 1812 | ||||
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 | ||||
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Latitude
Longitude |
29°N to 33°N
89°W to 94°W | ||||
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Width
Length Elevation -Highest -Mean -Lowest |
210 km
610 km 163 meters 30 meters -2.5 meters | ||||
| ISO 3166-2: | US-LA | ||||
| Louisiana State Quarter (reverse) | |||||
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.
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).
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.
See: Louisiana Purchase
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.
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 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.
See:List of Louisiana Governors, Napoleon Bonaparte
The Mississippi River empties out of the southern portion of the state into the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
As of 2000, the state's population was 4,468,976.
See also: List of famous people from Louisiana, Music of LouisianaHistory
What follows is a partial list, using current parish boundaries as rough approximations of locations.
Source: Sturdevent, William C. (1967). Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks, Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States)Law and Government
Geography
See List of Louisiana parishesEconomy
Demographics
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Football
Related Links:
Superdome; Football; Baseball; Basketball; Hockey
USS Louisiana was named in honor of this state.Professional Sports Teams
Baseball
Basketball
Hockey
Miscellaneous Information
Two separate historically Francophone communities exist in Louisiana.
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.
