 Louisiana
Information
Capital
City: Baton
Rouge
Economy: Oil and petrochemicals, agriculture,
timber, fishing and tourism.
Population: 4,468,976
Time Zone: 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean
Time (-6 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed from the first Sunday
in April to the last Sunday in October.
Louisiana's Flag:
The design consists of the pelican group from the state seal, in
white and gold, and a white ribbon bearing the state motto, "Union,
Justice, and Confidence", on a field of a solid blue. A Brief
History of Louisiana Under 10 Flags.
History of Louisiana:
Louisiana has a rich, colorful historical background. Early Spanish
explorers were Alvárez Piñeda, 1519; Álvar
Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, 1528; and Hernando De Soto in
1541. Sieur de la Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi and
claimed all the land drained by it and its tributaries for Louis
XIV of France in 1682. Louisiana became a French crown colony in
1731, was ceded to Spain in 1763, returned to France in 1800, and
sold by Napoleon to the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase (with
large territories to the north and northwest) in 1803. In 1815,
Gen. Andrew Jackson's troops defeated a larger British army in the
Battle of New Orleans, neither side aware that the treaty ending
the War of 1812 had been signed. Louisiana is a leader in natural
gas, salt, petroleum, and sulfur production. Much of the oil and
sulfur comes from offshore deposits. The state also produces large
crops of sweet potatoes, rice, sugar cane, pecans, soybeans, corn,
and cotton. Leading manufactures include chemicals, processed food,
petroleum and coal products, paper, lumber and wood products, transportation
equipment, and apparel. Louisiana marshes supply most of the nation's
muskrat fur as well as that of opossum, raccoon, mink, and otter,
and large numbers of game birds. Major points of interest include
New Orleans with its French Quarter and Superdome, plantation homes
near Natchitoches and New Iberia, Cajun country in the Mississippi
Delta region, Chalmette National Historical Park, and the state
capital at Baton Rouge. Copyright © Information Please, a Division
of Family Education Company.
Other Louisiana Links:
Association of Records Managers
and Administrators
Louisiana Association of Business
and Industry
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Municipal Association
Louisiana Travel Promotion
Association
State Library of Louisiana |
