Chapter 1

Louisiana: An Introduction

By Jordan Futch

A present day geography of Louisiana establishes the essence of the physical environment, the essence of human activity, and the connection between the two. Moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico, one would discover the distinctive variation of the climate. Cities can be differentiated by their economic functions depending on the city’s location and population size. The pattern of a natural resource such as petroleum can be found and compared with petroleum refining patterns. Similar climate, soils, cultures, and resources can be found around the world by geographers; however, Louisiana’s uniqueness comes from the combination of these elements.

Stretching 569 miles through Louisiana on its way from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River is an important factor in understanding both the natural environment and human settlement of Louisiana. The river provides a route for exploration, settlement, and commerce. In recent years, the Mississippi River has moved over half of the transportation of cargo on all United States waterways. The river also contributes much to the economy and culture of the coastal areas because it deposits vital mineral and biological resources. At the same time, the river poses many challenges to those seeking to unite and govern the region.

Exploration and Settlement

The first use of the name "Louisiana" came about when the explorer La Salle decided to honor his king, Louis XIV of France. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Louisiana was defined as a reference to the majority of the interior of North America. The present day Louisiana was one of seventeen states created entirely or partially from the Louisiana Purchase and it was the eighteenth state admitted to the Union in 1812.

The Mississippi River was one of the primary routes for Europeans settling the North American interior. Hernando de Soto was given credit as being the first European to enter Louisiana. His route lasted from 1541-1542 and is argued that he traveled along the Mississippi and Red Rivers into north Louisiana and Arkansas. The group traveled overland and returned to the Gulf courtesy of the Mississippi which was succeeded by the death of De Soto.

The revival of European interest in the area began in the seventeenth century. A journey began from Canada in May 1673 by Louis Joliet and Father Marquette. They returned safely to Canada due to their fear of Spanish and Indians, but were convinced that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. Joliet and Marquette were soon followed by La Salle who, in 1682, obtained fifty men and traveled from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi. He unfortunately failed to locate the mouth of the Mississippi and was killed traveling overland to Canada.

The settling of Louisiana became slow among the Europeans. The French wished to repeat in Louisiana the extraction of gold and silver from their Central and South American possessions, but were unable to succeed. However, agricultural resources became the real developing factor in Louisiana. In the eighteenth century, limitations to settlement became riverside agricultural areas and a few towns adjacent to military posts. Settled in 1714, the earliest town in Louisiana was Natchitoches. Because of persistent log jams on the Red River, navigation north was only possible up to Natchitoches, and thus was a good area for a trading post serving fur trappers. The next settlement occurred along the Mississippi at New Orleans in 1718. Development of other early towns from French settlement occurred in the Monroe area in 1718, at Baton Rouge in 1719, at the site of Alexandria in 1723, near Shreveport in 1723, and near Opelousas in 1742. Additional settlements were made by the Spanish at New Iberia in 1779 and in the Avoyelles area in 1780. Established by the British in 1763 were St. Francisville and a fort near Baton Rouge in 1765.

A dramatic rise in trade became evident when the Europeans and Americans began settling the Ohio and upper Mississippi valleys. During the 1700s flat-bottomed plank boats known as bateaux filled with cotton and livestock were transported down the Mississippi. Cargo was then transferred to sailing vessels traveling toward the east coast and Europe. Boats normally headed south after the harvest, arriving at New Orleans in December with wheat, corn, bacon, hams, dried meats, leather, wool, copper, lead, and other products. Steamboats, which could effectively travel both upstream and downstream, led to an increase in river commerce. By 1840, New Orleans became the second largest port in the country.

Location

The creation of a dynamic Louisiana landscape was due to centuries of Mississippi River. The majority of central Louisiana is among the youngest landscape in North America. Because of the dynamic landscape, Louisiana’s boundaries have been and remain to be disputed. With minor modifications, the admission act and related documents approved by the United States Congress on April 8, 1812, state the boundaries of Louisiana.

The original definition of the north boundary did not include the West Florida parishes because they were Spanish. Legitimacy of the area into the state being incorporated was not made until February 22, 1819, when Spain ceded its Florida possessions to the United States by means of a treaty. After Spain surrendered claim to what is now southern Mississippi in 1795, the northern boundary was established as thirty-one degrees north latitude.

Several rivers and bayous created a problem on the west. It was believed by Spain settlers that the Sabine River was not the western boundary, but a line connecting the small Rio Hondo near Natchitoches with the Mermentan River near the coast. Debate over the boundary continued until an affirmation was made by the United States Supreme Court, courtesy of the 1819 treaty, that the center of the Sabine River became the boundary.

The flow of the Mississippi River on the east caused boundary problems. According to the principle used in international law and within the United States, alternations of the boundary are caused by gradual changes in a river’s course. As a result, parts of Mississippi were located on the Louisiana side of the river, and vice versa. Louisiana having parts "across the Mississippi" causes few serious problems since these areas are generally flood-prone and uninhabited.

The zone of the Gulf Coast Offshore became a twentieth century problem on the south. The court’s interpretation of the boundary as being three statute miles offshore was disputed with the state's argument that the original document said three nautical miles (3.45 statute miles). The approximate extension of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana is four hundred miles in an east-west alignment. Each year Louisiana loses approximately twenty-five square miles of coastal wetlands. Because of a 1983 act of the United States Congress, supported by the state, the boundary was eventually fixed based on the shoreline of 1981 as determined by the United States Supreme Court. Further, in 1981, indications of the Supreme Court decide that state control extends three statute miles offshore.

Disputes over boundaries have normally been incidents associated with the settlement geography of the state. Persistence in daily languages is French, and in some remote areas, Spanish. The population variation has led to a uniqueness in the mixture of traditions. The description of the boundaries is the location of a state on the southern edge of a major continent and at the mouth of its major river. The boundaries' enclosure of great natural and human resources is finally accepted by all.

Government

Louisiana also contains a unique political geography, beginning with the location of the capital. During the colonial period, New Orleans, the river port and largest settlement, was the administrative center for the French and Spanish. After preparations of the act of admission were made, Baton Rouge, the current state capital, was not part of the Territory of Louisiana. During the early years of statehood, the state capital was often located in Donaldsville, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge.

During the civil war, Louisiana had two operative capitals. Governing from Opelousas and then Shreveport was the Confederate area while New Orleans was made capital by the Federal troops. A new state constitution was adapted in July 1879 which lead to the permanent relocation of the capital to Baton Rouge in 1882.

As opposed to other states, local units of government are called parishes. Once the Territory was granted representative government by the United States Congress in March 1805, recognition was given to the parishes’ effective role in colonial government, and modern governmental parishes were established on April 10, 1805. Dating from 1805 are Acadia, Concordia, Iberville, Lafourche, Natchitoches, Orleans, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee and Rapides Parishes. As the years passed, the division of existing parishes created new parishes and as a result, Louisiana now has sixty-four parishes.

The modern era in state government is generally believed to have begun in the early 1920s under Governor John M. Parker, who envisioned an expansion in the role for state government. However, far reaching change was brought about by the election of Huey Pearce Long as governor in 1928. By the end of his term 2,000 miles of road, a bridge at Vicksburg, and bridges under construction in Baton Rouge and New Orleans were all paved. Late in the twentieth century, Huey Long continues to be surrounded by controversy, but the state government’s widely expanded role remains. Further, expectations for the state government are to take a leading role in economic development and environmental protection.

People and the Economy

Concerning measures of income, education, and health care, Louisiana has consistently ranked near the bottom among states. A recent indictment shows a comparison between Louisiana cities and the national average stating that the total residential expenses in Louisiana are one to eight percent lower than comparable cities nationwide. In the late 1980s, Louisiana’s poverty rate was distinctively the highest in the nation. In 1995, twenty percent of the state’s population lived below the poverty level. The state of Louisiana comes in last for general health of its population and second to last in accessible primary care practitioners. Morality among infants is forth highest in the nation. Louisiana has one of the highest ratings of school dropouts and one of the lowest ratings in literacy in the country.

The majority of Louisiana’s and the nation’s population live in cities. A great deal of urban problems is shared between Louisiana cities and cities throughout the country. The emphasis of the general prosperity of cities cannot allow poverty among low income minority neighborhoods to be ignored. Several farm areas have experienced much migration and other similar problems. The attraction of manufacturing firms resulted in the prosperity of some of the state’s rural and small town residents. Today the population of Louisiana ranks twenty-first in the state. A total number of 4,219,973 residents in the state was counted in the 1990 census of population, and a prediction of nearly four and one half million is being made by the year 2000.

Maps : Poverty Map (courtesy of the Louisiana state department)

Population Density (Courtesy of the Louisiana State Department)