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 and 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 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 uplands and contiguous hill lands 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. However, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, though higher in elevation, have less topography.
Besides the navigable rivers already named (some of which are called bayous), there are the Sabine, forming the western boundary, and the Pearl, the eastern boundary, the Calcasieu, the Mermentau, the Vermilion, the Teche, the Atchafalaya, the Boeuf, the Lafourche, the Courtableau, the D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas, 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).
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.
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.
Kisatchie National Forest is Louisiana's only National Forest. Headquartered in Pineville, Kisatchie National Forest operates six separate districts in the north-central area of the state, for the most part between Shreveport, Monroe, and Alexandria.
State parks and recreational areas
Louisiana operates a system of nineteen state parks, sixteen state historic sites, and one state preservation area. *see List of Louisiana state parks
Louisiana natural and scenic rivers
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. One of these, Saline Bayou, is also a National Wild and Scenic River.
Louisiana was inhabited by Native Americans when European explorers arrived in the 17th century. Settlement and colonization began in the 18th century. Some current place names, including Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles), are from Native American dialects.
Several native tribes inhabited the region (using current parish boundaries to describe approximate locations):Sturdevent, William C. (1967): Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks, Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States). *The Atakapa in southwestern Louisiana in Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu parishes. *The Chitimacha in the southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St Mary, lower St. Martin, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Bo St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines. *The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, in areas directly north of the Chitimachas in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany. *The Houma in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee parishes (about 100 miles (160 km) north of the town named for them). *The Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation, in parts of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River. *The Tunica in northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, East Carroll and West Carroll. *The remainder of central and north Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation.
Exploration and settlement
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 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 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 Natchitoches. 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.
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.
During the period of Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia made their way to Louisiana following British expulsion; settling largely in the southwestern Louisiana, the Acadian refugees were welcomed by the Spanish, and descendants came to be called Cajuns.
Then in 1803, Bonaparte sold the territory to the United States, which (see Louisiana Purchase) divided it 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 were annexed from Spanish West Florida by proclamation of President James Madison in 1810. The western boundary of Louisiana with Spanish Texas remained in dispute until the Adams-OnÃs Treaty in 1819, with the Sabine Free State serving as a neutral buffer zone as well as a haven for criminals.
Louisiana was a slave state. It also had one of the largest free black populations in the United States.(see slavery) 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. Because a large part of the population had Union sympathies (or compatible commercial interests), the Federal government took the unusual step of designating the areas of Louisiana under federal control as a state within the Union, with its own elected representatives to the U.S. Congress.
Hurricane Katrina
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated southeastern Louisiana, while damaged levees in New Orleans flooded the city. The city was essentially closed until October. Estimates are that more than two million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the hurricane, with more than a thousand storm fatalities in Louisiana. Public outcry criticized the government at the local, state, and federal levels, citing that response was neither fast nor adequate. The next month, southwestern Louisiana was struck by Hurricane Rita.
From its time as a possession of France, Louisiana retains a civil law legal system, based on the Louisiana Civil Code, which is similar to (and often confused with) the Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a common law legal system derived from England). Also derived from French governance is the use of the term "parishes" in place of "counties" for the subdivisions of government.
Great differences still exist between Louisiana Civil Law and the Common Law found in her 49 sister states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of the Common Law in the United States,[1] 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 are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking. In contrast, criminal law is entirely based on the Anglo-American Common Law.
Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in its method for state, local, and congressional elections. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in an open primary on Election Day. 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 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. 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.
Louisiana is the only state that calls its subdivisions parishes, rather than counties. 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 an another exception to this rule as 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. 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.
Louisiana is also home to the Southern American Football League(SAFL), which has been in Louisiana for 5 years. In 2006, they have 10 teams, 8 of them from Louisiana.
Louisiana is home to many distinct cultures, especially notable are the non-Anglo Creole 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 & gas riches, Cajun culture, food, music and their infectious "joie de vivre" lifestyle quickly gained international acclaim.
There is also a distinct Spanish-descended group in Louisiana. The Isleños are direct descendants of Canary Islanders forced to migrate by the Spanish King beginning in the mid-1770s. There were intended to help guard the eastern approaches to New Orleans from invasion by the British. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, in the river passes east of the city, along an old mouth of the Mississippi River which they named Terre aux BÅ"ufs (literally "Land of Cattle" for the cattle living there). Many of their descendants remained insulated from the city, and continued to speak an archaic version of Spanish well into the 20th Century. They still maintain contacts with the Canary Islands, and have an annual "Caldo" festival named for a native dish.
*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 andPresent Relevance, 46 TUL. L. REV. 4 (1971); Rodolfo Batiza, Sources of the Civil Code of1808, 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 1808,46TUL. L. REV. 585 (1972). *Kinsella, N. Stephan, A Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary, 54 Louisiana Law Review 1265 (1994)
