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Louisiana: the story on HearLore | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · Ancient Earthwork Builders —
Louisiana.
~7 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
The Watson Brake site near present-day Monroe stands as the oldest mound complex in North America. Archaeologists date this eleven-mound structure to approximately 5400 BP, which equals 3500 BC. Seasonal hunter-gatherers from around that time organized to build these complex earthwork constructions in what is now northern Louisiana. These discoveries overturned previous assumptions in archaeology that such mounds were built only by cultures of more settled peoples who depended on maize cultivation. The Hedgepeth Site in Lincoln Parish dates to 5200, 4500 BP and represents a later development. Nearly 2,000 years after Watson Brake, Poverty Point was constructed. This massive Late Archaic site reached its peak around 1500 BC. It may have been the first complex culture and possibly the first tribal culture in North America. The culture lasted until approximately 700 BC. Later groups like the Marksville culture participated in the Hopewell Exchange Network. They traded with peoples to the southwest and brought the bow and arrow into the region. Political power began to consolidate as the first platform mounds rose at ritual centers for developing hereditary leadership.
Colonial Power Struggles
French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor King Louis XIV of France in 1682. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas, was founded in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. By 1714, the settlement of Natchitoches became the oldest permanent European settlement in the modern state. France ceded most territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain in 1763 following the Seven Years' War. The rest of Louisiana west of the Mississippi became a colony of Spain under the Treaty of Fontainebleau signed that same year. In 1765, several thousand Acadians from Nova Scotia made their way to Louisiana after being expelled by the British government. Governor Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga welcomed these settlers who became ancestors of Louisiana's Cajuns. Spanish Canary Islanders called Isleños emigrated between 1778 and 1783 under the Spanish crown. Napoleon Bonaparte reacquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. This arrangement remained secret for two years before becoming public knowledge. France and Spain jockeyed for control of New Orleans and lands west of the Mississippi until American acquisition.
The Louisiana Purchase
President Thomas Jefferson authorized Robert R. Livingston to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans and portions of the east bank of the Mississippi River. Livingston was authorized to pay up to $2 million initially. On the 11th of April 1803, French foreign minister Talleyrand surprised Livingston by asking how much the United States would pay for the entire territory. Monroe agreed with Livingston that Napoleon might withdraw this offer at any time. They decided to open negotiations immediately without waiting for approval from President Jefferson. By April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire Louisiana territory for sixty million Francs. This amount equaled approximately $15 million. Part of this sum, $3.5 million, was used to forgive debts owed by France to the United States. The payment was made in United States bonds which Napoleon sold at face value to Dutch and British banking houses. As a result, France received only $8,831,250 in cash for Louisiana. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on the 20th of October 1803. A transfer ceremony was held in New Orleans on the 29th of November 1803. General James Wilkinson accepted possession of New Orleans for the United States the following day. The territory doubled the size of the United States overnight without war or loss of American life.
Slavery And Plantation Economy
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville brought the first two African slaves to Louisiana in 1708. These individuals were transported from a French colony in the West Indies. Starting in 1719, traders began importing slaves in higher numbers. Two French ships named the Du Maine and the Aurore arrived in New Orleans carrying more than 500 black slaves from Africa. By the end of 1721, New Orleans counted 1,256 inhabitants, about half of whom were slaves. In 1724, the French government issued the Code Noir which regulated interactions between whites and blacks. After the sale of Louisiana, French law survived including prohibitions against cruel punishment. Fugitive slaves called maroons could easily hide in the backcountry bayous. By 1840, New Orleans had the biggest slave market in the United States. This contributed greatly to the economy of both the city and the state. During decades after the American Revolutionary War, more than one million enslaved African Americans underwent forced migration from the Upper South to the Deep South. Two thirds of them moved through the domestic slave trade. Steamboats operating on the Mississippi transported slaves upstream to markets or plantation destinations at Natchez and Memphis. Unusually for a slave-state, Louisiana harbored escaped Filipino slaves who created the oldest settlement of Asians in the United States.
Civil War And Reconstruction
According to the 1860 census, 331,726 people were enslaved representing nearly 47% of the state's total population of 708,002. The strong economic interest of elite whites in maintaining the slave society contributed to Louisiana's decision to secede from the Union on the 26th of January 1861. Federal troops captured New Orleans on the 25th of April 1862. Because a large part of the population had Union sympathies, the federal government designated areas under federal control as a state within the Union with its own elected representatives. Louisiana saw the United States' first and second black governors named Oscar Dunn and P.B.S. Pinchback during this era. One hundred twenty-five black members of the state legislature were elected while Charles E. Nash represented the state's 6th Congressional District. Former Confederates came to dominate the state legislature after the end of Reconstruction and federal occupation in the late 1870s. White Democrats passed a new constitution in 1898 that effectively disfranchised people of color by raising barriers to voter registration. In 1896 there were 130,334 black voters on the rolls. By 1900 only 5,320 black voters were registered in the state. By 1910 there were only 730 black voters representing less than 0.5 percent of eligible African-American men.
Cultural Melting Pot
The French claimed the territory in 1682 making it the political commercial and population center of the larger colony of New France. Over the next decade thousands of refugees landed in Louisiana from Saint-Domingue following a slave rebellion that started in 1791. These refugees included Europeans Creoles and Africans who greatly increased the French-speaking population in New Orleans. Pierre Clément de Laussat stated that Saint-Domingue influenced Louisiana more than any other French colony in the Antilles. The settlement of Natchitoches became a flourishing river port giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river worked by imported African slaves. Planters developed large plantations and built fine homes in a growing town which became a pattern repeated in New Orleans. More recent migrants include Filipinos and Vietnamese who arrived after World War II. The state constitution enumerates the right of the people to preserve their historic linguistic and cultural origins. Relative to the rest of the southern U.S., Louisiana is multilingual and multicultural reflecting an admixture of cultures including Acadiana Cajun Creole Spanish and Native American influences. In 1921 English was shortly made the sole language of instruction in Louisiana schools before a policy of multilingualism was revived in 1974.
Environmental Challenges
From 1932 to 2010 the state lost 1,800 square miles due to rises in sea level and erosion. Some researchers estimate that the state is losing a landmass equivalent to 30 football fields every day. Artificial levees block spring flood water that would bring fresh water and sediment to marshes. Swamps have been extensively logged leaving canals and ditches that allow salt water to move inland. Canals dug for the oil and gas industry also allow storms to move sea water inland where it damages swamps and marshes. Rising sea waters have exacerbated the problem. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority spends around $1 billion per year to help shore up and protect shoreline. Without restoration coastal communities will continue to disappear. On the 29th of August 2005 New Orleans and many other low-lying parts of the state were hit by Hurricane Katrina. It caused widespread damage due to breaching of levees and large-scale flooding of more than 80% of the city. Tens of thousands of people stayed behind many of them stranded while officials had issued warnings to evacuate. An estimated 110,000 homes were damaged during catastrophic flooding from an unnamed storm in August 2016.
When was the Watson Brake site in Louisiana built?
Archaeologists date the eleven-mound structure at the Watson Brake site to approximately 5400 BP, which equals 3500 BC. Seasonal hunter-gatherers from around that time organized to build these complex earthwork constructions in what is now northern Louisiana.
Who named the region of Louisiana and when did this occur?
French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle named the region Louisiana to honor King Louis XIV of France in 1682. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas, was founded in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.
How much did the United States pay for the Louisiana territory in 1803?
On April 30, they closed a deal for the purchase of the entire Louisiana territory for sixty million Francs. This amount equaled approximately $15 million, though France received only $8,831,250 in cash after debts were forgiven and bonds were sold.
What percentage of Louisiana's population was enslaved according to the 1860 census?
According to the 1860 census, 331,726 people were enslaved representing nearly 47% of the state's total population of 708,002. The strong economic interest of elite whites in maintaining the slave society contributed to Louisiana's decision to secede from the Union on the 26th of January 1861.
When did Hurricane Katrina strike New Orleans and what damage did it cause?
On the 29th of August 2005 New Orleans and many other low-lying parts of the state were hit by Hurricane Katrina. It caused widespread damage due to breaching of levees and large-scale flooding of more than 80% of the city.