路易斯安那州小档案：
人口：约450万
面积：约125，674平方公里，排名第31州
州府：巴顿鲁治Baton Rouge
路易斯安那州，为纪念法王路易十四King Louis XIV of France而得名。
1699年开始殖民。1812年4月30日成为美国第18州。以南方木兰花Southern Magnolia为州花。本州别名叫做“鹈鹕之州”Pelican State。本州箴言：“团结、公正、信心”Union，Justice，Confidence。
州府是巴顿鲁治Baton Rouge，位于本州南部，密西西北河东岸。大港口兼大都市新奥尔良New Orleans，位于密西西比河口。据统计每年进出口货物达12000万吨，仅次于纽约，为美国第二大港。
本州高等学府有25所。其中最著名的是路易斯安那州立大学，创于1860年，地点在巴顿鲁治，有3个分校。
本州特征有三：第一，地形方面为美国地势最低之州。它位于密西西比河下游，包括岛趾状三角州平原，平均高度在30公尺以下，河水常有泛滥。第二，作物方面，蔗糖及甘薯在美国各州之内，均列第一位。米产量列第二位。此外尚产大核桃Pecan、大豆、棉花及玉蜀黍。第三，矿产方面，石油产量仅次于德克萨斯州，列第二位。硫磺产量列第一位。
本州南滨墨西哥湾，属于湾岸之州。北界阿肯色州，西邻德克萨斯州，东隔密西西比河与密西西比州相望。本州是墨西哥湾岸平原，平坦肥沃。作物有大豆、玉蜀黍、棉花、甘薯、玉米及甘蔗等。矿产方面，有硫磺、盐、石油与天然气。
Introduction简介
Louisiana has a rich，colorful historical background．The state has been governed under 10different flags beginning in 1541with Hernando de Soto’s claim of the region for Spain．La Salle later claimed it for Bourbon France and over the years Louisiana was at one time or another subject to the Union Jack of Great Britain，the Tricolor（三色旗）of Napoleon，the Lone Star flag of the Republic of West Florida and the fifteen stars and stripes of the United States．At the outbreak of the Civil War，Louisiana became an independent republic for six weeks before joining the Confederacy．
The Louisiana region was settled by Indians in prehistoric times，at least as early as 6，000years ago．At the time of European exploration in the 16th century，there were more than 10，000Indians in Louisiana．Tribes of the Muskhogean language family occupied the east－central and south－east region，Tunican tribes lived along the coast and in the northeast，and tribes of the Caddoan（喀多语）group inhabited the north and northwest．
In 1519Alonso Alvarez de Pineda led an expedition along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico and discovered the mouth of a great river which may have been the Mississippi．
The Spanish adventurer Hernando de Soto died on the shores of the Mississippi River near present－day Memphis while exploring the southeastern United States．Each year the Mississippi，an Ojibwa Indian word meaning “big river”carries 400，000，000tons of sediment（沉淀物）into the Gulf of Mexico and discharges more water than all European rivers combined．
Authentic recorded history of this area doesn’t actually begin until 1682．It was then that Sierra de La Salle，the French explorer，reached the mouth of the Mississippi，claimed all its drainage basin for France，and named the area Louisiana to honor Louis XIV．
Louis Juchereau de St．Denis founded Fort St．Jean Baptiste in 1714，present－day Natchitoches，the first permanent settlement in Louisiana．
During the period from 1717to 1731Louisiana experienced a surge of growth and development as a colony of the Company of the West and，after 1719，its successor the Company of the Indies．The Company of the West was an elaborate colonization scheme of the Scotsman John Law，endorsed（签署）by the French government，which wreaked havoc（大破坏，浩劫）on the entire economy of France．
Sieur de Bienville began building New Orleans as a company town for the Company of the West in 1718．By 1721New Orleans had a population of more than 370people，including 147male colonists，65female colonists，38children，28servants，73slaves and 21Indians．
In 1792France ceded to Spain the Louisiana region west of the Mississippi，along with the New Orleans area．The remaining land east of the river was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris（1763）．In 1800Spain was forced by Napoleon Bonaparte to give back to France the Louisiana territory，including New Orleans．The United States acquired the area from France in 1803through the Louisiana Purchase．In 1804the region was divided into two sections－the District of Louisiana（later Missouri Territory），north of the 33rd parallel；and the Territory of Orleans，south of the parallel．
Earlier，in 1803，Louisiana had become a part of the United States because of the region’s importance to the trade and security of the American mid－west．New Orleans and the surrounding territory controlled the mouth of the Mississippi River down which much of the produce of the mid－west travelled to reach market．To get the vital region in American hands，President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with Napoleon．
Soon after Louisiana became a state on April 30，1812，war broke out with Great Britain．In 1812the Territory of Orleans and a small part of West Florida，still claimed by Spain，were admitted to the Union as Louisiana，the 18th state．Spain ceded West Florida in 1821．In January 1815，the British attacked New Orleans，unaware（没觉察到的）that a peace treaty to end the War of 1812had been signed two weeks earlier．They were defeated by Unites States forces under Andrew Jackson．The victory unified the Spaniards，French，Americans，and others who made up the population of the State．
With the acquisition of Louisiana，Jefferson nearly doubled the size of the fledgling U．S．and made it a world power．Later，13states or parts of states were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase territory．
In 1849，Baton Rouge replaced New Orleans as the state capital．The capital was transferred in1850to Baton Rouge from New Orleans where a new statehouse（州议会的议场）was waiting．Built at a cost of 100，000，the American gothic（哥特式的）design of the building was very much in vogue．Mark Twain said about the building，“．．．this little sham castle ．．．this architectural falsehood（虚假）．．．this whitewashed castle with turrets and things would never been built in this otherwise honorable place had it not been for the medieval romances of Sir Walter Scott．”
On Jan．26，1861，Louisiana seceded from the United States and joined the Confederacy a few months later．During the Civil War（1861－1865），over 56，000soldiers fought in the Confederate Army from Louisiana．