LOUISIANA

constituent state of the United States of America. The state is delineated from its neighboursArkansas to the north, Mississippi to the east, and Texas to the westby both natural and man-made boundaries. The Gulf of Mexico lies to the south. The 47,752 square miles (123,678 square kilometres) of Louisiana include more than 3,000 square miles of inland waters. The capital is Baton Rouge. Admitted to the Union in 1812 as the 18th state, Louisiana commands a once strategically vital region where the waters of the great MississippiMissouri river system, draining the continental interior of North America, flow out into the warm, northward-curving crescent of the Gulf of Mexico. It is not surprising that seven flags have flown over its territories since 1682, when the explorer Robert Cavelier, Lord de La Salle, placed a wooden cross in the ground and claimed the territory in the name of France's Louis XIV. The consequent varieties of cultural heritage run like bright threads through many of the aspectssocial, political, and artisticof life in the state. With parts of its land lying farther south than any portion of the continental United States except for southern Texas and the Florida peninsula, and with New Orleans, its largest city, lying on roughly the same parallel as Cairo, New Delhi, and Shanghai, Louisiana owes much of its complex personality to its geographic position. The subtropical climate of the state has provided the magnificent, brooding scenery of the coastal bayous, and the lush, dank vegetation of its shores conceals a wealth of oil. The fertile soil covering much of the terrain made Louisiana a rich agricultural area by 1860, with sugarcane and cotton plantations flourishing. A lumbering boom occurred at the turn of the 20th century, and Louisiana underwent rapid industrialization after World War II. Mineral output is great, and the state ranks among the nation's leaders in petroleum production. But progress has not been without its tragic and turbulent aspects: bitter territorial disputes and violent internal struggles for political power impeded the social and economic development of the state and crippled many of its political institutions. The wealth of the plantations was accumulated through the extensive use of slaves, whose descendants comprise almost one-third of Louisiana's population and whose culture has contributed much to the social fabric of the state. Racism and racial conflict have marred the development of the state from the Civil War period, through Reconstruction and the ensuing reaction, marked by the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, down to the civil rights conflicts of the 1960s and beyond. The Deep South. constituent state of the United States of America bordering the Gulf of Mexico in the south-central region of the country. Louisiana is bounded by the states of Mississippi on the east, Arkansas on the north, and Texas on the west. The capital is Baton Rouge. The boot-shaped state extends about 275 miles (440 km) from north to south and for about 300 miles (480 km) from east to west along the coast. The earliest inhabitants were Indians, whose occupancy has probably spanned 16,000 years. Archaeological sites have been excavated dating to 700 BC. At the time of initial European settlement, Caddo and Choctaw groups lived in hunting and gathering camps and in farming villages. The French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle descended the Mississippi River in 1682 and claimed the entire river basin for France. The city of New Orleans was established in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. When Louisiana became a French crown colony in 1731, its population was about 8,000, including black slaves. Colonization increased significantly in the 1760s with the arrival of the French-speaking Acadians (Cajuns) who had been expelled from Nova Scotia by the British. Spain controlled the territory from 1762 until 1800, when it passed again to the French. Louisiana was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. The Territory of Orleans, which consisted essentially of the present area of the state, was established in 1804. Louisiana entered the Union as the 18th state in 1812. In the first half of the 19th century, Louisiana experienced an economic boom generated by slave labour on the flourishing cotton and sugarcane plantations. Natural cleavages asserted themselves in the political affairs of the state as the interests of first French and Americans, and later planters and farmers, clashed in the political process. Despite the objection of a large portion of its population, Louisiana seceded from the Union at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861. Effective separation was short-lived as New Orleans was occupied by Union troops by 1862. Readmission to the Union occurred in 1868. When the Reconstruction period, severely administered by Northern radicals, was over, the planter-elite emerged in control of the government and economy. The enactment of the 1898 constitution legally denied nearly all blacks the right to vote, and a rigid policy of racial segregation developed that rendered blacks almost powerless until the mid-1960s. From 1928 until 1960 political power in the state was held by governor Huey P. Long and his successor and brother, Earl K. Long. The Longs were populists who tended toward demagoguery; they were not, however, anti-black. Louisiana can be divided into two main physical regions: (1) the Mississippi flood plain with its great delta, natural levees, and moderate relief; and (2) the Gulf coastal plain with its terraces and low hills. Along the coast is a wide fringe of swampland with slow-flowing bayous and large, shallow lakes. The Louisiana climate is subtropical, with average annual temperatures ranging from 64 F (18 C) in the extreme north to 71 F (21 C) at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Rainfall averages about 48 inches (1,220 mm) at Shreveport and 64 inches (1,625 mm) at New Orleans. The growing season ranges from 220 days in the north to 320 days in the south. Soil conditions are generally well-suited for agriculture, especially in the areas of the state that are covered by rich alluvium deposited by the overflowing of its rivers and bayous. The peoples of Louisiana exhibit a greater diversity than in most states of the Deep South. French is still spoken in many parishes, especially in the southwest. The state has long been an immigration point for Europeans, Latin Americans, and, more recently, Asians. By 1990 only the District of Columbia and the state of Mississippi had a higher proportion of black population than Louisiana. More than two-thirds of the total population is urban. The New Orleans metropolitan statistical area contains about 30 percent of the state's total population. Agriculture is led by soybeans, cotton, beef cattle, poultry, dairy products, and sugarcane. Extensive tree farming projects and shrimp fishing fleets add to the state's economy. Petroleum and natural gas are by far the most important mineral resources. Sulfur and salt are extracted from geological formations found in association with the oil. Chemicals, refined petroleum, paper, transport equipment, and processed food are among the most important manufactured items. The port of New Orleans is the country's second-ranked port, moving much of the nation's petroleum and grain. Baton Rouge, another busy port, lies at the head of deep channel navigation on the Mississippi. The Intracoastal Waterway runs the entire length of the Gulf coast. Pipelines carry crude oil to refineries and loading terminals, or natural gas to markets. Railroads, highways, and airways crisscross the state. New Orleans International Airport is a major connection point with Latin America and the Caribbean. Tourism has developed as a major industry around the traditions of the French Quarter of New Orleans with its annual Mardi Gras festival, and around the statewide antebellum plantation museums, gardens, and parks. A major world's fair was held in New Orleans in 1984. The New Orleans Superdome stadium holds sporting events of national interest. Louisiana's cultural and folk-art traditions have long influenced music, art, literature, and cuisine in the rest of the country. New Orleans actively supports its arts and philanthropic institutions. The Roman Catholic and Baptist churches have long held sway over the social and cultural life of much of the state's population. Along with the Louisiana State University system, the state administers several other colleges and universities. Area 47,752 square miles (123,677 square km). Pop. (1990) 4,219,973. Additional reading Books on the state's geography include Fred B. Kniffen and Sam Bowers Hilliard, Louisiana: Its Land and People, rev. ed. (1988), a concise cultural geography with maps and illustrations; and Louisiana Writers' Project, Louisiana: A Guide to the State (1941, reprinted 1976), also available in a new rev. ed. edited by Harry Hansen (1971), an indispensable survey of life in Louisiana. DeLorme Mapping Company, Louisiana Atlas & Gazetteer (1998), focuses on topography; while Charles Robert Goins and John Michael Caldwell, Historical Atlas of Louisiana (1995), concentrates on historical geography. Glenn R. Conrad (ed.), The Cajuns, 3rd ed. (1983), presents essays on Acadian history and culture in Louisiana. Rudolf Heberle, The Labor Force in Louisiana (1948), provides a benchmark from which to study the state's industrial development. Roger W. Shugg, Origins of Class Struggle in Louisiana: A Social History of White Farmers and Laborers During Slavery and After, 18401875 (1939, reissued 1968), is a classic treatment of the political process from 1812 to the 1880s. James Bolner (ed.), Louisiana Politics: Festival in a Labyrinth (1982), highlights the structure and practice of Louisiana's government. Mark T. Carleton, Perry H. Howard, and Joseph B. Parker (comps.), Readings in Louisiana Politics, 2nd ed. (1988), provides classic statements of social, economic, and political history with accounts of developments from colonial status onward. Perry H. Howard, Political Tendencies in Louisiana, rev. and expanded ed. (1971), is a historical examination of social structure and voting behaviour.Overviews of the state's history can be found in Alce Fortier, A History of Louisiana, 4 vol. (1904), a classic; Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana: A History, rev. ed. (1984), an introduction; and Noel Gray, A Short History of Louisiana (1965), which gives attention to the role of the African-American community. Glenn R. Conrad (ed.), Readings in Louisiana History (1978), is comprehensive and includes maps and bibliographies. A helpful bibliography is Light Townsend Cummins and Glen Jeansonne (eds.), A Guide to the History of Louisiana (1982). Continuing scholarly research is presented in Louisiana History (quarterly). Perry H. Howard The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica