Why is Northern Louisiana not French like Southern Louisiana is? (New Orleans: living, centers)

[Dylanperr]

I wanted to know why Northern Louisiana isn't as French as Southern Louisiana which is also known as Acadiana or Cajun country.

[finalmove]

Originally Posted by Dylanperr

I wanted to know why Northern Louisiana isn't as French as Southern Louisiana which is also known as Acadiana or Cajun country.

The exiled Acadiennes arrived by boat. Their life is on the water. A few have been spotted as far north as Carencro!

[Schwartzmann]

The French initially went up the Mississippi River to enter Louisiana and established New Orleans. New Orleans linked the Louisiana Colony with Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The French did try to establish a settlement in Fort Rosalie (present-day Natchez, Mississippi), which is up quite a bit from the Gulf of Mexico. It thrived for a while, but the Europeans were later annihilated by American Indians living there. After this, the French stuck primarily to the lower part of the state for purpose of permanent European settlement, although there were several French posts up the Mississippi River, including Sainte-Geneviève (the precursor to St. Louis, Missouri)--founded by Canadians working for the French in the 1730s.

After Napoleon sold Louisiana to the USA, Anglo-Protestant settlers from the East, many of them Scotch-Irish, filled in the northern part of the state.

Voilà ein 'tit brin d'histoire louisianaise ("A bit of Louisiana history.").

[tuck4x4]

Originally Posted by Schwartzmann

The French initially went up the Mississippi River to enter Louisiana and established New Orleans. New Orleans linked the Louisiana Colony with Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The French did try to establish a settlement in Fort Rosalie (present-day Natchez, Mississippi), which is up quite a bit from the Gulf of Mexico. It thrived for a while, but the Europeans were later annihilated by American Indians living there. After this, the French stuck primarily to the lower part of the state for purpose of permanent European settlement, although there were several French posts up the Mississippi River, including Sainte-Geneviève (the precursor to St. Louis, Missouri)--founded by Canadians working for the French in the 1730s.

After Napoleon sold Louisiana to the USA, Anglo-Protestant settlers from the East, many of them Scotch-Irish, filled in the northern part of the state.

Voilà ein 'tit brin d'histoire louisianaise ("A bit of Louisiana history.").

This is so neat to hear. I don't think I've ever heard the part about the Scotch-Irish before, but my grandfathers surname was Westmoreland and his family came from the Many area with a strong presence in Shreveport.

My grandmother, or so the story goes, surname was Andrews and they were from the Alexandria area. However, I've been told Andrews was derived from Andrus from a bit further south.

[aab7855]

Originally Posted by finalmove

The exiled Acadiennes arrived by boat. Their life is on the water. A few have been spotted as far north as Carencro!

Don't forget their pockets in Avoyelles Parish

[sluggermatt15]

You can get Cajun culture and cuisine as far north as Alexandria. Anywhere north is pretty much north Louisiana.

[cBach]

The French did settle Northern Louisiana. Natchitoches is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana territory.

The thing is, transport was difficult in that area (N. LA) because there were logjams on the rivers. Henry Shreve cleared the logjam on the Red River and Shreveport was founded but that was much later.

Because of the logjams, the only areas that could be settled and accessed via pirogue/small boats were in the swamps in Southern Louisiana (they are marshes so no logjams) or along the Mississippi River which was wide enough to no have logjams.

Thus the settlements tended to be in Southern Louisiana and along the MS River. There was no reason to be further north than Baton Rouge as ocean going vessels cannot navigate past the rapids north of Baton Rouge.

[ram2]

Does this also explain why southern Louisiana is predominantly Catholic and northern Louisiana is mainly Baptist?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by ram2

Does this also explain why southern Louisiana is predominantly Catholic and northern Louisiana is mainly Baptist?

Pretty much.

The original French settlers settled around New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Avoyelles Parish up to Natchitoches.

The Cajun (former Acadian) settlers settled to the southwest near Houma, along Bayou Lafourche, and west into Lafayette and Lake Charles.

Once Louisiana became a state, Americans populated northern Louisiana from eastern states. They also did that in southern Louisiana but it was starting from a much larger base population. For instance in 1840 New Orleans was the 3rd largest city in the US whereas there were no towns of more than a 1,000 up in Northern Louisiana.

American settlers to New Orleans settled in the Garden District and Uptown while the French settled the French Quarter and the Marigy. There were actually two municipal governments for a period of time.

The French, however, had political control so rich American families usually had their daughter married into a proper French Creole name to get the influence and political power. The Creoles married into the American families to get the wealth. In order to succeed in New Orleans you had to have Creole blood and be Catholic, so many Americans converted.

In northern Louisiana it was rural and mostly Baptists. Towns and cities formed later. The existing towns like Natchitoches were primarily French and Catholic but soon the newer towns like Shreveport, Alexandria, and Monroe overtook Natchitoches in population.

In southern Louisiana the population centers were always French (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Houma) and no new center overtook them. They were always dominant.

[bpollen]

Just to add, the French were primarily hunters, tradesmen, and fishermen. So the southern part of the area would have been more profitable for them. The French also tended not to migrate much, once they settled.

As for Catholicism, both the French and the Spanish were Catholics. France gave Louisiana to the Spanish centuries ago, so the state was also heavily settled & developed by the Spaniards. By then, the main living areas were in the south & middle La., so I guess the Spaniards stayed around the areas where others already lived.

I didn't know N La was settled by the Scot Irish & was heavily Baptist. I wonder if it's because N La is in that horizontal section of the southern part of the U S that's referred to as the Bible Belt.