Louisiana Seal

Louisiana Geography and Economy

Area 134,264 km²
Residents 4,681,666
Residents per km² 34.9
Capital Baton Rouge
Postal Code LA
ISO-3166-2 code US LA
FIPS code 22nd

Louisiana or (in French Louisiane) is a state in the southern United States of America. Louisiana is located at the confluence of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico and has a size of 134,264 km², of which 21,440 km² are bodies of water. Louisiana has m ehrerer nickname: on the one hand the official “Pelican State” because of the heraldic bird and w urther, z. B. “Bayou State” – swampy area, “Child of the Mississippi” child of the MIssissippi.

The brown pelican is one of the symbols of the state of Louisiana

The US state Louisiana is located in the southern United States and borders the states of Arkansas in the north, Mississippi in the east and Texas in the west.

The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge, the largest and most famous city is New Orleans.

History

The name was chosen in honor of King Louis XIV of France. Louisiana was explored early; the Spaniard Hernando de Soto explored the Mississippi area from 1539 to 1542, the French Robert Cavelier de La Salle continued this research in 1681, after which France claimed the area for itself and settled it permanently for the first time in 1699.

The ownership structure changed several times over the years: On the basis of the agreements in the Peace of Paris, the western part came to Spain in 1762, the eastern part to Great Britain a year later, which had to surrender it to the United States in 1783. In 1800 Napoleon I bought back the Spanish share.

On April 30, 1803, US President Thomas Jefferson bought the French colony Louisiana from Napoleon I for $ 15 million with the so-called Louisiana Purchase. The United States doubled its national territory in one fell swoop, because what was then Louisiana still comprised large areas of the Midwest.

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) the state of Louisiana belonged to the Southern Union of the Confederate States of America.

Abbreviated as LA by AbbreviationFinder, Louisiana has no official language. Because of the strong presence of French at the time, official documents were issued in both English and French until the American Civil War. The constitution of 1845 and a law of 1847 ensured bilingualism. Another linguistic minority are the Isleños, who emigrated from the Canary Islands to Louisiana in the 18th century. In the meantime, however, the proportion of French speakers in Louisiana has decreased significantly. In 2010, with around 3% speakers, it ranked third behind English (91.26%) and Spanish (around 4%).

Climate

In Louisiana there is a subtropical climate, which is characterized by hot, humid and rainy times, as well as mostly mild winters. The average annual temperature in Louisiana is around 20.6 degrees Celsius, with temperatures usually exceeding 30 degrees Celsius in summer. In winter, temperatures rarely drop below freezing point, otherwise the average mild winter temperatures are 12.6 degrees Celsius. There is a great deal of rainfall throughout the year, in which New Orleans and Baton Rouge collectively drop about 3,112.2 mm of rain over a year, with an average of 8.7 rainy days per month. Despite the high number of rainy days per month, the sun shines an average of 3.9 hours per day even in January. In summer the sun shines for up to eight hours a day; the sunniest month is July. Louisiana has a high humidity of at least over 70%.

Economy

The real gross domestic product per capita (English per capita real GDP) was USD 50,219 in 2016 (national average of the 50 US states: USD 57,118; national ranking: 32).

Rich deposits of crude oil and natural gas (including offshore production) as well as sulfur and rock salt are the basis of the predominantly energy-intensive industry. In agriculture, soybeans, cucumbers, cotton, sugar cane, sweet potatoes and rice are produced on fertile soils. Meat and dairy farming, poultry farming and fishing (shrimp, oysters) as well as fur production through trapping (mink, otter, muskrat, opossum, nutria) are of great importance. The forests provide construction timber and the raw material for paper production. Tourism is important.

The most important economic sectors at a glance:

  • Chemical and petrochemical industry (petroleum, natural gas, sulfur)
  • Paper industry
  • Aluminum industry
  • Tourism (especially New Orleans with the largest port on the Gulf Coast)
  • Cultivation of cotton, sugar cane, rice, vegetables, tobacco
  • Cattle breeding (especially dairy farming)
  • fishing
  • Logging

Louisiana has been the US’s second largest oil and gas producer since the late 20th century; around 2014 funding reached a peak. The drop in the price of oil has led to massive job cuts since 2014. In 2015 alone, 12,000 jobs were lost in the oil industry and 7,000 in the manufacturing industry, which is heavily dependent on cheap energy. Economic production is only possible again from around US $ 60 per barrel.

Infrastructure

Streets

Important long-distance connections are Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 in the west-east direction and Interstate 49 and Interstate 55 in the north-south direction.

Railroad

Amtrak’s passenger traffic connects New Orleans, Schriever, New Iberia, Lafayette and Lake Charles to Mississippi, Texas and the Pacific Coast. Freight traffic is handled by numerous companies.

Air traffic

Louisiana has airports including in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Monroe, Shreveport and via the international Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, which is located in the city of Kenner near New Orleans.

Ports and waterways

The port of New Orleans is one of the most modern ocean ports in the United States, through which a large proportion of food exports take place. It is 160 kilometers above the mouth of the Mississippi. The port of Baton Rouge is the furthest inland ocean port on the Mississippi. Mainly petrochemical products are handled here on push convoys.

Also known as Pelican State, Louisiana is short for LA with a population of 4,468,976. According to Countryaah, the capital city of Louisiana is Baton Rouge and the biggest city is New Orleans.

Louisiana Seal