Do you want a ‘pur sang’ Deep South experience? Then you’ve come to the right place in dynamic, lively Louisiana! Partying is in the blood of the inhabitants! Whether it’s food or music, every occasion is celebrated here. The famous but equally infamous festivals have brought Louisiana international fame. Even if you don’t just want to party, Louisiana is a great holiday destination. With beautiful nature and typical southern culture, there is something interesting to discover ‘around every street corner’.
Geograpy
According to deluxesurveillance, Louisiana is located in the western part of the Southern states. The state borders Mississippi to the east, Arkansas to the north and Texas to the west. The Gulf of Mexico, which borders Louisiana in the south, provides a subtropical climate year round! The Mississippi River makes its way for more than a thousand kilometers through the state, from north to south and then flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Around the river with its tributaries is fertile soil and wetland.
The north of the state is dominated by forests and prairie. It is a more hilly landscape with the highest point being Driskill Mountain. The name mountain is actually not worthy of this hill because the height of Driskill is only 163 meters. The capital of the Pelican state is Baton Rouge and the largest city is New Orleans. In total, the population is estimated at over 4.5 million and New Orleans is home to around 220,000 people. With all the conditions created by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, many demographic factors are still uncertain today.
Climate
If you’re planning a vacation to Louisiana, you can leave your fur coat and hat at home. According to electronicsmatter, the subtropical climate is noticeable all year round, with mild winters and scorching hot summers. In winter, temperatures are around 13-15 degrees Celsius. In the north, a cold front can sporadically occur, with temperatures dropping just above freezing. In the summer you can count on temperatures well above 30 degrees. Especially in the north, the temperature in the summer months often reaches a high of 40 degrees! On the coast it is slightly less hot with temperatures around 34 degrees.
Hurricanes
On the coast, the environment consists of lowlands. Because of the so-called ‘bayou’s’, a kind of almost still creek or stream, this region is very sensitive to tropical storms. The composition of the landscape means that hurricanes that make landfall are often devastating. Hurricane Katrina is a prime example of this.
Katrina
Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in the summer of 2005, wreaked havoc in southern Louisiana, particularly in and around New Orleans. Katrina just swept past the city but nevertheless caused extensive damage and claimed many lives. More than 1,000 people were killed in Louisiana and hundreds of deaths were also reported in neighboring states of Alabama and Mississippi. It was known that the hurricane would make landfall here, so a mandatory evacuation from the city was instituted.
More than 20,000 people left behind in the city were accommodated in the Superdome, a stadium used for sports matches. Due to the enormous heat, crowds and a lack of food they still had to be evacuated, but the high water made this mission very difficult. Two years later, parts of the city and the surrounding area were still unimproved and uninhabited. Restoration work has started with difficulty and the cost of restoration has been estimated at more than $75 billion.
History
As you can see, many place names are very French in this state. This state has been dominated by French influences since the 17th century. Louisiana is the only state that is subdivided into ‘parishes’, local governments called ‘counties’ elsewhere in the US. The state has a rich history that has been shaped by the many cultures that make up this state. Long before the arrival of the Spanish, the state was inhabited by Native Americans, Indians.
French and Spanish occupation
The Spaniards were the first settlers to set foot on Louisiana territory, in the Mississippi River area. They ignored Louisiana and the French who arrived here at the end of the 17th century took advantage of this. They wanted to establish a French empire that would run from the Gulf of Mexico ‘all the way to Canada’.
The expedition was led by Robert Cavalier de La Salle who gave Louisiana its current name. The name is derived from the king, Louis XIV, the sun king who was seated as king at the end of the 17th century. The colonization spread further and further north as far as Illinois!
In the early 1800s, the Spaniards regained control of the Mississippi River area. At that time, a German colony had moved to the area and Frenchmen from Nova Scotia came to the area, having been exiled by the British. They were called Cajuns and are still part of the Louisiana population today.
The US Purchase
Napoleon bought Louisiana back from the Spanish and the then independent United States, led by President Jefferson, began negotiations with France. The sale of the state to France had not yet been made official and the US bought Louisiana in 1803. The same year the state was officially annexed, expanding the territory of the US in one fell swoop. After this, the US continued to purchase territory as far as the Pacific and slowly the current US was born.
