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revised 9-16-2003

LOUISIANA

    Louisiana has the distinction of having been governed under 10 different flags since 1542 when Hernando de Soto first claimed it in the name of Spain.  De Soto was, however, not the first to discover the region.  Another Spaniard by the name of Alvarez de Pindea discovered mouth of the Mississippi in 1519.   Later, in 1682, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, erected a cross at the mouth of the Mississippi River after descending the river from the Great Lakes and claims the territory for Louis XIV of France, for whom Louisiana is named.  In 1715, Louis Juchereau de St. Denis established Fort St. Jean Baptiste (Natchitoches), first permanent settlement in the Mississippi Valley.  New Orleans was founded in 1718 and named for   Phillippe Duc D'Orleans.  The St. Louis Cathedral was built that year and remains the oldest Cathedral in the United States.  Ownership wavered back and forth between these two countries for a the first 250 or 300 years since its discovery. It ran for a while under the flag of the Union Jack, the flag of Napolean of France and under the Stars and Bars of the United States.  For a six-week period at the beginning of the Civil War, it attempted to declare itself and independent republic.  In all, 13 states were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase lands.  

    In 1762, Louis XIV  gave the "Island of New Orleans" and all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi to his cousin, Charles III of Spain in an effort to end the Seven Years War between France and Spain.  At the end of that war, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which ceded to Spain all of Louisiana and to England, the Florida Parishes, with Baton Rouge being renamed New Richmond.  

    In 1764, the first of the Nova Scotia Acadians began arriving in Louisiana, and developed the group now known as Cajuns.  During the Revolutionary War, many loyal Britons moved their families to Louisiana from the Atlantic states rather than to fight against what they deemed to be their mother country.  

    The United States finally purchased the area known as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  This area was divided on 1 October 1804 into two parts by Congressional action.  The upper portion was given the name "District of Louisiana" and the lower portion was named 'Territory of Louisiana"  and the race for settlement was on bringing in settlers from south of the Ohio in search of land.  In 1805, Louisiana was again divided into 12 counties, and in 1807, the Orleans Territory was partitioned into 19 parishes.  On 30 April 1812, when the nation was embroiled again in the War of 1812, Louisiana was admitted as the 18th state of the Union.  Shortly thereafter, in 1815, the Battle of New Orleans was won with Andrew Jackson the victor.  There was a period when Biloxi was the Capital, but this later moved to New Orleans.

     Louisiana was a rich agricultural state, housing some of the wealthiest families in America.  They came to grow Indigo for dyes, replaced much of that with sugar and then with cotton plantations.  The plantation system was shattered by the Civil War, but Louisiana continued to be a power in the agricultural world. In 1861, Louisiana ceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, but was later re-instated in 1868.   In 1869, sulphur was discovered in Louisiana and later, in 1901, oil was discovered in the area, leading it to become one of the nations major producers of oil and natural gas in America.  It also had large timberlands as an available resource.

    In 1872, one of the most enduring holiday celebrations in New Orleans was established. The first Mardi Gras parade was held that year and Rex, King of Carnival, has reigned ever since.  Louisiana is the home of Jazz, shrimp fishing and some of the best eating in the South.  You will note that Louisiana is divided into Parishes and not Counties.  Also you will find that Louisiana is one of the few states in the Union that follow Napoleonic Law as the basis for its legal structure.

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