woda: Louisiana

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Louisiana (French: Louisiane; Spanish: Luisiana [lwiˈsjana]; Louisiana Creole: Lwizyàn) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is bordered by Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25th in population, with roughly 4.6 million residents. Reflecting its French heritage, Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties, making it one of only two U.S. states not subdivided into counties (the other being Alaska and its boroughs). Baton Rouge is the state's capital, and New Orleans, a French Louisiana region, is its…

Evidence: 69 • authority: 72

Louisiana, also known as French Louisiana, was a district of New France. In 1682, the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle erected a cross near the mouth of the Mississippi River and claimed the whole of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River in the name of King Louis XIV, naming it "Louisiana". This land area stretched from near the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains. The area was under French control from 1682 to 1762 and in part from 1801 to 1803. Louisiana included two regions, now known as Upper Louisiana (la Haute-Louisiane), which began north of the Arkansas River, and Lower Louisiana (la Basse-Louisiane…

Evidence: 67 • authority: 72

Lake Pontchartrain ( PON-chə-trayn; French: Lac Pontchartrain, pronounced [lak pɔ̃ʃaʁtrɛ̃] ) is an estuary in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers 630 square miles (1,600 km2) with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet (3.7 to 4.3 m). Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval, about 40 miles (64 km) from west to east and 24 miles (39 km) from south to north. As an estuary, its "Lake" title is a misnomer, but only a slight one, as its passage to the open sea is narrow. The lake was named in 1699 by the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville for Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, a minister under Louis XIV. It connects to the Gulf of…

Evidence: 67 • authority: 72

Opelousas (; French: Les Opélousas; Spanish: Los Opeluzás) is a small city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a junction here. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2025 estimated population for Opelousas is 15,098. According to the 2020 census, Opelousas has a population of 15,786, a 6.53 percent decline since the 2010 census, which had recorded a population of 16,634. Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 80,808 in 2020. Opelousas is also the fourth largest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a…

Evidence: 51 • authority: 88

The Future of French in Louisiana. The vernacular variety of French historically spoken in south Louisiana, commonly known as Cajun French or to linguists as Louisiana Regional French (Klingler 2003), is the unique product of the contact between varieties of French spoken by the colonists, immigrants, and Acadian exiles who populated the region. The Acadian influence on this Louisiana dialect of French is reflected in its common name, ...

Evidence: 51 • authority: 88

History and Variation in Louisiana French. This is an overview of the range of French spoken in Louisiana and the historical forces that created the francophone landscape we have today.

Evidence: 51 • authority: 88

The History of French in Louisiana. This chapter introduces the reader to Louisiana French. Four varieties of French are generally recognized by linguists: Colonial French, Plantation Society French, Louisiana Creole, and Louisiana Regional French (most commonly called Cajun French). The French of the Lafourche Basin is classified as Louisiana Regional French. The chapter outlines the similarities and differences between the three, and then focuses in particular on Louisiana Regional French, providing a historical outline of its development and a brief description of its features in comparison to Standard French. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the variation found in Louisi…

Evidence: 51 • authority: 72

French Louisianians (French: Louisianais; Spanish: Luisianenses Franceses), also known as Louisiana French or French Creoles (French: Créoles), refer to people of French-American ethnicity native to the areas of the United States formerly comprising the colony of French Louisiana. Distinct regional subgroups include the Alabama Creoles (including Alabama Cajans), Arkansas Creoles, Louisiana Creoles (including Louisiana Cajuns), and the Missouri French (Illinois Country Creoles).

Evidence: — • authority: 72

New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy, among other nicknames) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 census, New Orleans is the most populous city in Louisiana, the second-most populous in the Deep South (after Atlanta), and the twelfth-most populous in the Southeastern United States; the New Orleans metropolitan area, with about 1 million residents, is the 59th-most populous metropolitan area in the United States. New Orleans serves as a major port and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region. The city is coextensive with Orleans Parish. New Orleans is renowned for its…