Overview of Louisiana

Louisiana has a rich diversity of peoples including original Indian settlers plus descendants from a variety of cultures such as the French, Spanish, English, German, Acadians, Africans, Irish, Italians, West Indians, Hungarians, and now include many more nationalities. The state has an interesting past and has been governed under 10 different flags. In1803, Louisiana became part of the United States, mainly because New Orleans controlled the mouth of the Mississippi RIver which the mid-west traveled for trade. Thomas Jeffereson negotiated with Napoleon for Louisiana, and doubled the size of the United States.

As part of Louisiana’s French legacy, counties are called parishes and the Napoleonic Code (rather than Common Law) holds in the courtrooms. There are two strong cultures in Louisiana, cajuns and creoles. The word cajun, comes from the mass exodus of ‘Acadians’ from Nova Scotia, and is assocated with the trianglular area from the southern coast of Louisiana to its apex in the center of Louisiana in Alexandria with it’s princliple city being Lafayette. Cajuns are known for their robust cuisine, music, and architecture. Creoles, on the other hand, are descendents from the first generation of settlers in Louisiana before it was added to the United States, the result of marriages within and between the ethnic groups who made their homes there. Creole cusine is a culmination of the ethnic backgrounds including French, Spanish, German, and Italian cooking.