Louisiana Overview

Louisiana. It is one of the states that make up the United States located in the southern region of the country, on the delta of the Mississippi River. The state borders on the west with the state of Texas, on the north with Arkansas, on the east with Mississippi and on the south with the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has a particular culture due to French colonization and, to a lesser extent, to the Spanish. The most widely spoken languages ​​today are English and Spanish. As for the dialect of French known as Cajun (a voice derived from the adjective Acadien, which designated the settlers from the French-Canadian colony of Acadia), this has today been reduced to 5% of speakers. Worse luck has fallen to the vestigial Spaniard, brought in the 18th century by Canarian and Andalusian emigrants, which today is practically disappeared. However, Spanish is constantly growing in number of speakers, due to Mexican and Central American emigration, especially in the city of New Orleans. According to CountryAAH.com, Louisiana capital is Baton Rouge, but the most important city is New Orleans. Other cities are Lafayette and Shreveport.

Etymology

According to Abbreviationfinder, Louisiana was named after Louis XIV, King of France (1643 – 1715). When René Robert Cavelier de La Salle claimed this territory watered by the Mississippi River for France, he called it La Louisiane, which means “The Land of Louis.” Louisiana was also part of the Viceroyalty of New Mexico, in the First Mexican Empire. Already part of the United States, the Louisiana Territory stretched from New Orleans to the current border with Canada.

Demography

In 2006, the state of Louisiana had a population of 4,287,768 people, of which:

• 7% are white (European or of European descent), mainly British, French, Spanish and Italian.
• 6% are black.
• 9% are Latin American (among which Hondurans and Mexicans predominate).
• 3% are Asian.
• The rest are made up of people of other races.

Hurricane Katrina

On 29 August of the 2005, the Hurricane Katrina hit the state of Louisiana. This was a major hurricane that reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The winds reached more than 280 kilometers per hour and caused great damage in the littoral part of the southern United States, especially around the New Orleansmetropolitan area and in the parish of Plaquemines.

In New Orleans, as a result of the rains, Lake Pontchartrain overflowed, leaving more than 80% of the city flooded and around 200,000 houses under water. More than a million people had to be evacuated to other states in the country, mainly Florida, Missouri and Texas, while others were transported to more distant states, such as Washington, Ontario and Illinois. It took the city more than 3 months to completely pump the accumulated water into the sea, to find the bodies of the disappeared and to start living in the houses again.

Although the forecasts were that the houses could be reoccupied by the summer of 2006. A few days after the disaster, on the night of August 31, the mayor, Ray Nagin, declared martial law, subsequently the federal disaster area came under the control of FEMA and the National Guard. The interruptions in imports and exports, as well as the activities in this area of ​​the oil industry, not only affected the local economy, but also affected the economy of the entire country.

New Orleans. Located in the state of Louisiana (United States), it is one of the most important cultural centers of that country, and one of the populations that can boast of having the richest past within a country with a history as recent as yours.

In 2010, its population was 343,829 residents. After being partially destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the population decreased considerably due to evacuation or death and in 2006 the population was approximately half, between 192,000 and 230,000 residents.

History

The French Quarter was the germ of what is now the city of New Orleans. Its style, a mixture of French, Spanish and Creole, preserves the most important characteristics of the area: the Caribbean colors and the festive style that permeates the entire city. For more than 300 years it has been the center of life in the city, especially around Plaza Jackson (Jackson Square), the former Plaza de Armas.

Geography

With the largest port in the United States, it welcomes more than 5,000 vessels from 60 different countries, increasing its trade. In this way, salt, agricultural products, oil, natural gas, etc. They pass through the port of New Orleans on their way to North or South and Central America.

The city extends over a surface of 360 square miles, of which 160 are water, and includes four parishes (parishes, equivalent in New Orleans of the traditional county or county): Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany.

In New Orleans the cardinal points lose their meaning. The north becomes lakeside, the south in Riverside; the east, downtown; and the west, uptown.

New Orleans is divided into 16 historic districts, two of which, the French Quarter and the Garden District, are of national interest. Although the French Quarter, or Vieux Carré, is the one that is usually cited first.

Climate

The month of January, which is usually the coldest in New Orleans, has an average temperature of 10ºC. The month of April has an average of approximately 20ºC and the months of July and August, the hottest, have an average of slightly more than 26ºC.

Rainfall is uneven throughout the year but, curiously, the summer months register the highest rates.

Economic development

With the largest port in the United States, it welcomes more than 5,000 vessels from 60 different countries, increasing its trade. In this way, salt, agricultural products, oil, natural gas.

Social development

Art and culture

The first operas in America were performed in New Orleans in 1790, when the Spanish-style houses of the French Quarter and the exquisite Greek Revival mansions of the Garden District were built.

Since then, restaurants have offered food from many cultures, as well as distinctive Cajun and Creole cuisines. Before the “Civil War”, New Orleans was the birthplace of the nation’s music, so artists and artisans from around the world immigrated to this vibrant port.

Visitors of all classes enjoyed the luxury and perhaps decadence of “the city that worry forgot.” Residents enjoyed cultural and recreational opportunities beyond what the size of most New Orleans cities could offer. New Orleans was the cultural capital of the South.

The city is home to world-class museums, such as the D-Day Museum and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Artist studios and galleries line the streets of the French Quarter, Marigny, the Warehouse / Arts District and Magazine Street. Art groups offer presentations and shows in various parts of the city. All over the city, historic neighborhoods are being revitalized through architectural and aristocratic restorations.

This city has seen the birth of personalities from the world of music, cinema and letters such as Louis Armstrong and the writers Truman Capote and Anne Rice.