Louisiana

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Louisiana is one of the 50 states of the United States. Formerly a French and later Spanish colony, it was sold to the United States by Napoleon. But there are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France, including: the use of a civil law legal system, the Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a common law legal system derived from England), the term parishes being used to describe the state's self-divisions as opposed to counties, etc.

As of 2000, the state's population was 4,468,976.

See also Louisiana Purchase.

Cities: New Orleans, Baton Rouge (State capital), Shreveport, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Covington, Alexandria, Slidell

See List of Louisiana parishes

The Mississippi River empties out of the southern portion of the state into the Gulf of Mexico.

Colleges and Universities

• Centenary College of Louisiana
• Dillard University
• Grambling State University
• Louisiana College
• Louisiana State University System
  • Louisiana State University at Alexandria
  • Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge
  • Louisiana State University at Eunice
  • Louisiana State University at Shreveport
• Louisiana Tech University
• Loyola University New Orleans
• McNeese State University
• Nicholls State University
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana
• Our Lady of Holy Cross College
• Our Lady of the Lake College
• Southeastern Louisiana University
• Southern University System
  • Southern University Baton Rouge
  • Southern University New Orleans
• Tulane University
• University of Louisiana System
  • University of Louisiana at Monroe
  • University of Louisiana at Lafayette
• University of New Orleans
• Xavier University of Louisiana

Professional Sports teams

• New Orleans Saints, National Football League
• Minor League baseball teams
  • New Orleans Zephyrs
  • Shreveport Swamp Dragons
  • Alexandria Aces
  • New Orleans Pelicans (1887-1959)
  • New Orleans Creoles (Negro League) (dates?)
• National Basketball Association:
  • New Orleans Jazz (1970s) (dates?)
  • The Charlotte Hornets are scheduled to move to New Orleans in 2002.

State symbols

state dog : Catahoula Leopard Dog

What about the creoles or cajuns?

These are two separate historically Francophone communities in Louisiana. The ancestors of Creoles generally came to Louisiana directly from France or from the French colonies in the Carribean, and settled in New Orleans and South Eastern Louisiana.

The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-descended people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, The British forced all of the citizens to take a pledge of allegiance. Most Acadians would not and were forced out of Canada, most of them fleeing to the South Western portion of Louisiana, centered in the region around Lafayette.

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There is also a place named Louisiana in the State of Missouri: see Louisiana, Missouri.

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