Louisiana

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2

Railroads

There were 4,781 km (2,971 mi) of railroad tracks in Louisiana in 2004. Railroads provide freight service to and from many urban centers. New Orleans, Shreveport, and Alexandria are among the chief freight centers, and New Orleans is also the major railroad passenger terminus.

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3

Airports

Louisiana had 10 airports in 2007, most of which are small private fields. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is the state’s principal airport.

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4

Waterways and Ports

The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, which extends for 108 km (67 mi) from New Orleans to the Gulf, enables oceangoing ships to bypass the lowermost reaches of the Mississippi River delta. Above New Orleans a channel 13.7 m (45 ft) deep is maintained in the Mississippi River as far upstream as Baton Rouge. From Baton Rouge to the Louisiana-Arkansas state line there is a navigation channel 2.7 m (9 ft) deep. Barges and other rivercraft also utilize the Red and Ouachita rivers in Louisiana.

The gulf section of the Intracoastal Waterway, which passes through New Orleans, extends the width of the state, from the mouth of the East Pearl River in the east to the Sabine River in the west. Almost the entire length of the waterway in Louisiana lies inland, rather than just offshore, as in most other Gulf States.

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Louisiana has three major deepwater ports. The Port of South Louisiana, in New Orleans, was the nation’s leading port in weight of cargo handled annually in the mid-1990s. Baton Rouge is a major inland port on the Mississippi. Lake Charles is connected with the Gulf of Mexico by a deepwater ship channel. In 1981 the nation’s first “superport” for oil tankers was completed 31 km (19 mi) off the coast of Louisiana. It is capable of berthing tankers too large to dock in any other U.S. port.

H

Trade

New Orleans is the state’s leading trade center. Wholesale and retail establishments in the city serve most of southeastern Louisiana, as well as much of southern Mississippi. Shreveport is also a major trade center, serving much of northern Louisiana and part of eastern Texas. Other cities in Louisiana that serve as trade centers include Baton Rouge, Monroe, Lafayette, Alexandria, and Lake Charles.

IV

The People of Louisiana

A

Population Patterns

According to the 2000 national census, Louisiana ranked 22nd among the states, with a total population of 4,468,976. This figure represented an increase of 5.9 percent over the 1990 census figure of 4,219,973.

Urban areas are home to 73 percent of Louisiana’s population. The state has an average population density of 38 persons per sq km (98 per sq mi). In much of rural northern and western Louisiana there are fewer than 12 persons per sq km (30 per sq mi), and in Cameron Parish, on the Gulf Coast, there are 3 persons per sq km (7 per sq mi).

In 2000 whites made up 63.9 percent of the population and blacks 32.5 percent. In parts of eastern Louisiana blacks constitute a majority of the population. Additional ethnic groups in the state were Asians, who were 1.2 percent of the people, Native Americans, 0.6 percent, and those of mixed heritage or not reporting race, 1.8 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders numbered 1,240. Hispanics, who may be of any race, were 2.4 percent of the population.

A unique element of the state’s population is a group of people known as Creoles. Creole people are the American-born descendants of European settlers who came to the colony beginning in the 18th century. By the 19th century Creoles were generally considered of two types: white Creoles and Creoles of color (also known as Afro-Creoles). White Creoles were of French, Spanish, and sometimes German heritage, while Creoles of color were of mixed European and African ancestry. Today, the Creole population in Louisiana is most often characterized as a group of mixed-race, French-speaking, and Roman Catholic people. A unique Creole language, derived from French, also emerged from this population, although it is no longer commonly spoken by Creoles in Louisiana today.

The French-speaking people of Acadia, most of which is now part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, were ousted from their homes by the British in 1755. Some of them relocated to Louisiana beginning in the 1760s. Their descendants, called Cajuns (a word derived from Acadians), live mostly in the southwestern part of the state. The Creoles and the Cajuns, who have partly merged, retain much of their original culture, including the French language and the Roman Catholic religion.