Louisiana
Louisiana became a U.S. state on April 30, 1812, as the 18th state. Louisiana is a state rich in history. The first Europeans to explore the area was in 1519 when Alonso Alvarez de Pineda led an expedition along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1682 the French explorer Sieur de La Salle, was the first European to navigate the Mississippi claimed the area for France and named after the then current king of France, Louis XIV.
It wasn’t until 1714 that the first settlement was established in Louisiana by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis who founded Fort St. Jean Baptiste, present-day Natchitoches.
The Louisiana territory eventually spread all the way to Canada including what is known today as the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
In 1718 Sieur de Bienville began building New Orleans (at that time called Nouvelle Orleans) as a company town for the company of the West. By 1721 New Orleans had a population of more than 370 people.
After the French-Indian war from 1754-1763, the French lost the territory east of the Mississippi to the British and by the sec6ret Treaty of Fontainebleau, France ceded its unprofitable and remote territories west of the Mississippi and the Isle of Orleans to Spain.
In 1779 war broke out between Spain and Britain and in 1800 Napoleon Bonaparte acquired the Louisiana territory West of the Mississippi from Spain by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso.
Jefferson saw this as a detriment to the United States trading along the Mississippi River and in 1803 the United States purchased the territory of Louisiana for $15,000,000 from Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1804 William Charles Cole Claiborne was appointed governor of the Territory of Orleans, which the area of present-day Louisiana was called. In 1812 Claiborne was elected the state’s first governor, a position he held until 1816 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. On November 29, 1803 the United States raised their flag in the port of New Orleans and had now full control of the entire Louisiana territory, for less than 3 cents per acre. Many historians attribute this event which propelled the United States in becoming the superpower it is today.
Shortly after New Orleans experienced accelerated growth primarily by the slave trade and became one of the richest cities in the Union.
Today, the State of Louisiana remains a powerful center of American culture and life. The history of Louisiana has resulted in a state known for its diversity of cultures manifested in music, from African American songs, Cajun fiddling at the fais do-dos, and the Creole zydeco tradition, jazz, and Dixieland music.
The largest cities in Louisiana are New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Lafayette.
Notable
Location
Louisiana is located above the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its neighboring states are Arkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east and Texas to the west.
Climate
Louisiana has a constant semitropical climate. Locations further from the Gulf of Mexico will have less rainfall and humidity then the regions closer to the Gulf. Snow will rarely fall in the north portion of the state.
Capital
Baton Rouge
Population as of 2009
4,492,076 Ranked number 25 in the U.S.
Seats in the House of Representatives
7
Electoral College
9
Nick name
Pelican State
Flower
Magnolia
Bird
Eastern Brown Pelican
Animal
Louisiana Black Bear
