Why is Northern Louisiana not French like Southern Louisiana is?

[hdwell]

More likely, the cotton belt. Most of the North La. settlers came from Georgia and South Carolina. The opportunity for new cotton lands brought them. They just happened to be Baptist and Methodist. Many were Episcopalian and Presbysterian as well.

Yes bpollen, you are correct about the French and Spanish being in South La. However there are Creoles around Natchitoches and some of the Sabine settlers were Spanish or Mexican from Texas.

[Huckleberry3911948]

The lands purchased by the arcadians after the treaty of Paris were in the south not north

[Tom Lennox 70]

There are some people and even guidebooks and websites that claim certain parts of South Louisiana like Livingston, Tangipahoa, Washington and even St. Tammy Parishes are more like North Louisiana than the rest of South Louisiana. Livingston Parish does seem to have more Baptists and Pentecostals than Catholics but Cajun and Creole food is still widely enjoyed. St. Tammany may not have been very French to begin with but with the influx of New Orleans area residents that's changing though that Creole culture is distinct from Cajun.

Baton Rouge has a large Catholic presence but I wouldn't say its a clear majority of people. There are also many former Catholics as well who now identify as Baptist, Methodist, Pentacostal or non-denominational.

[supfromthesite]

This map of Cajun ancestry willl probably line up with where the French culture lives in Louisiana. As has been said, the rest of Louisiana was settled by English and Scots, the people who settled the rest of the Southern states (and to an extent the rest of the country). You will find that culture in America lines up with the people who settled that region. This is why the Southern states are so similar. Texas, where I am from, was founded by Southerners too, but also Northern Mexicans, Spanish, Germans, Czechs, and other Europeans, so it is not quite the same as the rest of the South.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

This map of Cajun ancestry willl probably line up with where the French culture lives in Louisiana. As has been said, the rest of Louisiana was settled by English and Scots, the people who settled the rest of the Southern states (and to an extent the rest of the country). You will find that culture in America lines up with the people who settled that region. This is why the Southern states are so similar. Texas, where I am from, was founded by Southerners too, but also Northern Mexicans, Spanish, Germans, Czechs, and other Europeans, so it is not quite the same as the rest of the South.

This has Orleans Parish at 0% but it has a longer French culture than the rest of Acadiana because it was settled by the original French (Creole) instead of the Acadians (Cajuns). Same with Plaquemines and St. Bernard. I agree however that the Florida Parishes (north of New Orleans) are Baptist.

Also Natchitoches Parish has a certain percentage Creole as does Avoyelles Parish.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by cBach

This has Orleans Parish at 0% but it has a longer French culture than the rest of Acadiana because it was settled by the original French (Creole) instead of the Acadians (Cajuns). Same with Plaquemines and St. Bernard. I agree however that the Florida Parishes (north of New Orleans) are Baptist.

Also Natchitoches Parish has a certain percentage Creole as does Avoyelles Parish.

I think the percentages refer specifically Cajun aka Acadian and any kind of French hence the low numbers in New Orleans. Cajun ancestry is not common in New Orleans, its French heritage comes mostly from people who came directly from European France, not the Acadian exiles. The Creole culture is very separate from Cajun culture though more restaurants now just feature "Louisiana cuisine" which mixes the two. New Orleans doesn't really feel THAT French to me, and there's at least as many people with Irish, Italian, English, and German ancestry in the New Orleans area than French. In fact New Orleans was unique in the South for the extremely large number of Irish and Italian immigrants and the area has some of the best Italian food in the South, and the mufaletta is also derived from Italian Americans. The beer tradition also derives partly from the Irish and German cultures.

Oh yes and the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas also has a lot of people with European Spanish ancestry because Spain also ruled Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase, and its not unusual in South Louisiana to see someone who is 100% white with a Spanish last name. But when they travel out of state they're often asked if they're somehow mixed with Mexican because of their names.....

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

I think the percentages refer specifically Cajun aka Acadian and any kind of French hence the low numbers in New Orleans. Cajun ancestry is not common in New Orleans, its French heritage comes mostly from people who came directly from European France, not the Acadian exiles. The Creole culture is very separate from Cajun culture though more restaurants now just feature "Louisiana cuisine" which mixes the two. New Orleans doesn't really feel THAT French to me, and there's at least as many people with Irish, Italian, English, and German ancestry in the New Orleans area than French. In fact New Orleans was unique in the South for the extremely large number of Irish and Italian immigrants and the area has some of the best Italian food in the South, and the mufaletta is also derived from Italian Americans. The beer tradition also derives partly from the Irish and German cultures.

Oh yes and the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas also has a lot of people with European Spanish ancestry because Spain also ruled Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase, and its not unusual in South Louisiana to see someone who is 100% white with a Spanish last name. But when they travel out of state they're often asked if they're somehow mixed with Mexican because of their names.....

Just for clarity, Spanish people are white.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Just for clarity, Spanish people are white.

That's what I was saying, its not unusual in South Louisiana to have white people with last names like Gonzales, Ramirez and Martinez because they are of white Spanish descent.

[Bamaman1]

One area has such a large maritime influence--jobs and food.

The other is a heavy agriculture area--more like Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta to the east.

Their ancestors also came from different places.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by Bamaman1

One area has such a large maritime influence--jobs and food.

The other is a heavy agriculture area--more like Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta to the east.

Their ancestors also came from different places.

True though the Cajun prairie area of Acadiana is a land-based Cajun culture such as around Opelousas. Outsiders often only associate Cajuns with the swamps but many Cajuns were farmers and ranchers as well. Stuff like boudin and meat pies came out of that aspect of Cajun culture. Louisiana culinary tradition is definitely split between the land, the swamp (which includes crawfish which are from freshwater), and the coast.