Louisiana

The state is bordered to the west by the state of Texas to the north by Arkansas to the east by the state of Mississippi and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana is a Southern state of the United States of America. The capital is Baton Rouge and the largest city is New Orleans.

Louisiana has a humid subtropical climate, perhaps the most "classic" example of a humid subtropical climate of all the Southeastern states, with hot summers and mild winters. The subtropical characteristics of the state are due in large part to the influence of the Gulf of Mexico, which even at its farthest point is no more than a couple hundred miles away. Precipitation is frequent throughout the year, although the summer is slightly wetter than the rest of the year, and there is a dip in precipitation in October. Summers in Louisiana are among the most oppressively hot and humid in the United States with high temperatures from mid-June to mid-September averaging 90 °F or more and overnight lows averaging over 70 °F. In the summer, the extreme maximum temperature is much warmer in the north than in the south, with temperatures near the Gulf of Mexico very rarely reaching 100 °F. In northern Louisiana, temperatures can reach above 105 °F in the summer. Temperatures are generally mildly warm in the winter with highs around New Orleans, Baton Rouge, the rest of south Louisiana, and the Gulf of Mexico averaging 65 °F, while the northern part of the state has average highs of close to 60 °F. The overnight lows in the winter average well above freezing throughout the state, with 45 °F the average near the Gulf and an average low of around 37 °F in the winter in the northern part of the state. Louisiana does have its share of cold fronts which can drop the temperatures below 20 °F on occasion. Snow is not very common near the Gulf of Mexico, although those in the northern parts of the state can expect one or two dustings of snow per year.

Louisiana is often affected by tropical cyclones and is very vulnerable to strikes by major hurricanes, especially the low area around and in the New Orleans area. The area is also prone to frequent thunderstorms, especially in the summer. The entire state averages over 60 days of thunderstorms a year averaging more thunderstorms than any other state except Florida. Louisiana averages 27 tornadoes annually, and the entire state is vulnerable to a tornado strike, with the extreme Southern portion of the state slightly less vulnerable than the rest of the state

Hurricanes
September 2005, Rita struck southwestern Louisiana.
August 29, 2005, Katrina struck and devastated Southeastern Louisiana, while damaged levees in New Orleans flooded the city. The city was essentially closed until October. Estimates are that more than two million people in the Gulf region were displaced by the hurricane, with more than 1500 fatalities in Louisiana. Public outcry criticized the government at the local, state, and federal levels, citing that response was neither fast nor adequate.
Further information: Effect of hurricane Katrina on Louisiana and Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
September 10-14 1998, Frances
1992, Andrew
September 1965, Betsy has a 10ft. storm surge and killed 58 in LA alone.
August 1969, Camille (Category 5) had a 23.4 ft. storm surge and killed 250 people.
June 1957, Audrey(Category 4) had a 12-foot storm surge, topped by 20-foot wavesand killed between 390 and 550 people.

History
Louisiana was inhabited by Native Americans when European explorers arrived in the 17th century. Settlement and colonization began in the 18th century. Some current place names, including Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles), are from Native American dialects.

Many native tribes inhabited the region (using current parish boundaries to describe approximate locations):[4]

The Atakapa in southwestern Louisiana in Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu parishes. They were allied with the Opelousa in St. Landry parish.
The Acolapissa in St. Tammany parish. They were allied with the Tangipahoa in Tangipahoa parish.
The Chitimacha in the Southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St Mary, lower St. Martin, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Bo St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines. They were allied with the Washa in Assumption parish, the Chawasha in Terrebonne Parish, and the Yagenechito to the east.
The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, in areas directly north of the Chitimachas in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, East Baton Rouge, west Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany. They were allied with the Quinipissa in St. Tammany parish.
The Houma, also part of the Choctaw nation, in East and west Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee parishes (about 100 miles (160 km) north of the town named for them).
The Okelousa in Pointe Coupee parish.
The Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation, in parts of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River.
The Taensa, also part of the Natchez nation, in northeastern Louisianna particularly Tensas parish.
The Tunica in northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, East Carroll and west Carroll.
The Koroa in East Carroll parish.
The remainder of central, west central, and northwest Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation and Natchitoches confederacy consisting of the Natchitoches in Natchitoches parish, Yatasi and Nakasa in the Caddo and Bossier parishes, Doustioni in Natchitoches parish, and Quachita in the Caldwell Parish and the Adai in Natchitoches parish.

Demographics
 
As of July 2005 (pre-Katrina/Rita), Louisiana has an estimated population of 4,523,628, which is an increase of 16,943, or 0.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 54,670, or 1.2%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 129,889 people (that is 350,818 births minus 220,929 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 69,373 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 20,174 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 89,547 people.

The center of population of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee parish, in the city of New Roads [2].

As of 2003, the state's population included approximately 215,000 native French-speakers.

Languages
As of 2000, 91.2% of Louisiana residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 4.8% speak French. Spanish is spoken by 2.5% of the population, Vietnamese is at 0.6% and German is at 0.2%.

Among the states, Louisiana has a unique culture, owing to its French colonial heritage. While the state has no declared "official language," its law recognizes both English and French.

There are several unique dialects of both French and English spoken in Louisiana. First, there are two unique dialects of the French language: Cajun French and Louisiana Creole French. There are also two unique dialects of the English language: Cajun English (a French-influenced variety of English) and what is informally known as Yat (which resembles the New York City dialect, particularly that of Brooklyn).

Economy
The total gross state product in 2003 for Louisiana was US$140 billion. Its per capita personal income was US$26,312, forty-third in the United States.

The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood (It is the biggest producer of crawfish in the world), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, food processing, transportation equipment, paper products, and tourism.

Louisiana has 3 personal income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 6%. The sales tax rate is 4%: a 3.97% Louisiana sales tax and a .03% Louisiana Tourism Promotion District sales tax. Political subdivisions also levy their own sales tax in addition to the state fees. The state also has a use tax, which includes 4% to be distributed by the Department of Revenue to local governments. Property taxes are assessed and collected at the local level.

culture
 
Dishes typical of Louisiana Creole cuisine.Louisiana is home to many distinct cultures, especially notable are the Louisiana Creole people and the French-speaking Cajun.

The ancestors of Creoles came to Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from Western Europe France, Germany, Spain, and from Senegal (west Africa) and settled along the major waterways in the State. The blending of these disparate lifestyles is called "Creole" and continued as the dominant cultural, social, economic and political lifestyle of Louisiana well into the 20th century when it would finally be overtaken by the Anglo-American mainstream.

The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-speaking people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forcibly separated families and evicted them because of their long-stated political neutrality. Most captured Acadians were placed in internment camps in England and the New England colonies for 10 to 30 years. Many of those who escaped the British remained in French Canada. Once freed by England, many scattered, some to France, Canada, Mexico, the Falkland Islands, with the majority finding final refuge in south Louisiana centered in the region around Lafayette and the LaFourche Bayou country. Until the 1970s, Cajuns were often considered lower class citizens with the term "Cajun" being derogatory. But, once flush with oil and gas riches, Cajun culture, food, music and their infectious "joie de vivre" lifestyle quickly gained international acclaim.

There is also a distinct Spanish-descended group in Louisiana. The Isleños are direct descendants of Canary Islanders who migrated to Louisiana under the Spanish crown beginning in the mid-1770s. There were intended to help guard the eastern approaches to New Orleans from invasion by the British. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard parish, in the river passes east of the city, along an old mouth of the Mississippi River which they named Terre aux Bœufs (literally "Land of Cattle" for the cattle living there). Many of their descendants remained insulated from The city, and continued to speak an archaic version of Spanish well into the 20th century. They still maintain contacts with the Canary Islands, and have an annual "Caldo" festival named for a native dish.