History of Louisiana facts for kids

The history of the U.S. state of Louisiana goes back thousands of years. It was first home to indigenous peoples. The first signs of people settling down permanently appeared about 5,500 years ago. This marked the start of the Archaic period.

Later, the Marksville culture developed about 2,000 years ago. This culture is thought to be the ancestors of the Natchez and Taensa peoples. Around 800 AD, the Mississippian culture began. These people started farming maize (corn) and formed complex societies around 1200 AD. Most of the Mississippian culture disappeared by the 1500s.

Europeans arrived in the 1500s. In 1682, La Louisiane became a colony of France, named after Louis XIV of France. It then belonged to Spain in 1763. In 1803, the U.S. bought Louisiana from France in the Louisiana Purchase. This huge area was split into two territories. Louisiana became the 18th U.S. state on April 30, 1812. The Battle of New Orleans was fought here in 1815, during the War of 1812, and the U.S. won.

Before the American Civil War, Louisiana was a leading slave state. By 1860, nearly half the population (47%) was enslaved. Louisiana left the Union on January 26, 1861, and joined the Confederate States of America. New Orleans, a very important port, was captured by Union troops in 1862. After the Confederacy lost the war in 1865, Louisiana entered the Reconstruction era (1865–1877). During this time, the U.S. Army occupied the state.

After Reconstruction in the 1870s, white Democrats regained political power. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case that "separate but equal" facilities were legal. This ruling supported Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. In 1898, a new state constitution made it very hard for African Americans to vote. This disenfranchisement lasted until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

In the early to mid-1900s, many African Americans left Louisiana in the Great Migration. They moved to cities in the North and Midwest for better opportunities. The Great Depression of the 1930s greatly hurt Louisiana's economy. Farming prices dropped, and many businesses closed. World War II helped the state's economy grow and become more industrial. The Civil Rights Movement gained attention in the 1950s and 1960s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally ended the laws that stopped African Americans from voting.

In the late 20th century, Louisiana saw a lot of industrial growth. Industries like oil refineries, chemical plants, and food production grew. Tourism also became very important, with Mardi Gras being a famous annual celebration since 1838. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused massive damage to Louisiana, especially New Orleans. A new $15 billion levee system was built in New Orleans from 2006 to 2011 to protect the city.

Ancient History of Louisiana

Early Peoples and Mounds

Watson Brake, the oldest mound complex in North America

The Dalton tradition was a group of early people who lived in Southeast North America around 8500–7900 BC. They made special projectile points (like spear tips).

During the Archaic period, Louisiana was home to some of the oldest human-made mounds in North America. The Watson Brake site, near Monroe, Louisiana, has mounds built around 3400 BCE. This shows that people were building complex structures a very long time ago.

By 2200 BCE, the Poverty Point culture was spread across much of Louisiana and nearby states. This culture was very advanced for its time, possibly the first complex tribal culture in the U.S. Their largest site is at Poverty Point, near Epps, Louisiana. This culture lasted until about 700 BCE.

Woodland Period Cultures

Map of the Fourche Maline and Marksville cultures

After the Poverty Point culture, the Tchefuncte and Lake Cormorant cultures developed. These groups traded over shorter distances and were the first in Louisiana to make a lot of pottery. Their pottery has been found from Texas to Florida. These cultures lasted until 200 CE.

The Middle Woodland period began with the Marksville culture in southern Louisiana and the Fourche Maline culture in the northwest. These cultures were similar to the Hopewell cultures in Ohio and Illinois. They traded goods over a wide network.

During this time, people started living in more permanent villages and began farming. They grew plants from the Eastern Agricultural Complex. Populations grew, and trade increased. They also started using the bow and arrow. Societies became more organized, and the first burial mounds were built. Leaders began to gain more power.

A map showing the extent of the Coles Creek cultural period and some important sites

By 400 CE, the Late Woodland period began with the Baytown and Troyville cultures, and later the Coles Creek culture. These cultures showed an increase in population. The Troyville people built large earthwork centers, including a mound that was once 82 feet (25 meters) tall.

The Coles Creek culture (700 to 1200 CE) saw a big increase in population and more complex societies. By 1000 CE, simple chiefdoms began to form. Many Coles Creek sites were built on top of older burial mounds, showing how new leaders used the past to show their power.

Mississippian Period Cultures

A map showing the geographical extent of the Plaquemine cultural period and some of its major sites.

The Mississippian period in Louisiana saw the rise of the Plaquemine and the Caddoan Mississippian cultures. This is when widespread maize (corn) farming began. The Plaquemine culture (1200 to 1400 CE) lived in the lower Mississippi River Valley. They are thought to be the ancestors of the Natchez and Taensa peoples.

By 1000 CE, the Fourche Maline culture in northwest Louisiana had become the Caddoan Mississippian culture. These people lived in a large area, including parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. Today, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma are direct descendants of these ancient people.

Native American Groups When Europeans Arrived

When Europeans first came to Louisiana, many different Native American groups lived there:

• The Choctaw nation, including the Bayougoula, Houma, Okelousa, and Acolapissa.
• The Natchez nation, including the Avoyel and Taensa.
• The Caddo Confederacy, including the Adai, Natchitoches, Yatasi, Nakasa, Doustioni, and Ouachita.
• The Atakapa in southwestern Louisiana.
• The Chitimacha in southeastern Louisiana, allied with the Washa, Chawasha, and Yagenechito.
• The Tunica and related Koroa in northeastern Louisiana.

Many places in Louisiana today, like Atchafalaya, Natchitoches, Caddo, Houma, and Avoyelles, get their names from these Native American languages.

First European Contact

The first European explorers in Louisiana were from Spain. In 1528, an expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez found the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1542, Hernando de Soto's expedition traveled near the state, encountering Caddo and Tunica groups. They followed the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico in 1543. These Spanish explorers did not claim the land for Spain.

French Rule in Louisiana (1682–1763)

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville

Europeans didn't show much interest in Louisiana until the late 1600s. Then, French explorers arrived, wanting to expand their empire, spread their religion, and trade. They established a foothold on the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.

The French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle named the region Louisiana in 1682. He did this to honor King Louis XIV of France. The first permanent French settlement was Fort Maurepas, founded in 1699 by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. It was near what is now Biloxi, Mississippi.

The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed a huge area. It included land on both sides of the Mississippi River, stretching north to French territory in Canada. The settlement of Natchitoches, founded in 1714, is the oldest permanent settlement in Louisiana. It was important for trade with the Spanish in Texas and to stop Spanish expansion.

At first, Mobile, Alabama, and briefly Biloxi, Mississippi, were the capital cities. In 1722, New Orleans became the capital because of its important location on the Mississippi River. The northern parts of the French territory, like the Illinois Country, sent grain down the river to New Orleans, which couldn't grow its own.

Not only French people settled in Louisiana. In the 1720s, German immigrants settled along the Mississippi River in an area called the German Coast.

Enslaved Africans Arrive

In 1719, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Louisiana on French ships. From 1718 to 1750, thousands of captive Africans were brought to Louisiana. They came from various regions in West Africa. These enslaved people were forced to work on plantations.

Historians believe that many of these enslaved people came from the Senegambian region of Africa. This concentration of people from one area had a strong impact on the unique Louisiana Creole culture that developed.

Spanish Rule (1763–1803)

After losing the Seven Years' War, France had to give up most of its land east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain. The area around New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana became a Spanish possession in 1763.

Spanish rule did not stop French-speaking people from moving to Louisiana. Thousands of French-speaking refugees from Acadia (now Nova Scotia, Canada) came to Louisiana after being forced out by the British. The Spanish welcomed them. Their descendants are known as Cajuns.

Many Spanish-speaking immigrants also arrived. These included the Isleños from the Canary Islands and the Malagueños from southern Spain. They settled in different parts of southern Louisiana.

Both free and enslaved populations grew quickly under Spanish rule. Many enslaved people were brought directly from Africa to work on plantations. By 1800, enslaved people made up the majority of the population in Lower Louisiana. This large number of African people greatly influenced Louisiana's culture.

In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte of France secretly got Louisiana back from Spain. He hoped to rebuild a large French empire in the Americas. However, his plan failed after France lost many troops trying to regain control of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). This led to Haiti's independence in 1804.

Louisiana Joins the United States (1803–1860)

Because of his setbacks, Napoleon decided to sell Louisiana to the United States. This was the Louisiana Purchase. The U.S. divided this vast land into two territories. The Territory of Orleans became the state of Louisiana in 1812.

The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) also led many refugees to move to Louisiana, especially New Orleans. These included free people of color, white people, and enslaved Africans. These immigrants, especially the French-speaking ones, greatly added to the Creoles of color and French Creole communities in New Orleans.

In 1811, the largest slave revolt in U.S. history, the German Coast Uprising, happened in the Orleans Territory. Hundreds of enslaved people rose up and marched towards New Orleans before the revolt was stopped.

Louisiana Becomes a State

Louisiana officially became a U.S. state on April 30, 1812. Its western border with Spanish Texas was disputed until 1819.

New Orleans became a very busy port in the early 1800s. Goods from the Midwest traveled down the Mississippi River to be shipped overseas. New Orleans was a major port for exporting cotton and sugar. The city grew wealthy and became one of the largest cities in the nation.

By 1840, New Orleans had the biggest slave market in the United States. This contributed greatly to the economy. Over a million enslaved African Americans were forced to move from the Upper South to the Deep South during these years. Many were sold in New Orleans and then transported upriver to plantations.

Civil War and Reconstruction (1860–1877)

Louisiana's economy relied heavily on enslaved labor and the trade of enslaved Africans. In 1860, 331,726 people were enslaved, making up almost 47% of the state's population. Louisiana also had one of the largest populations of free black people in the U.S., with 18,647 people. Most of these free people of color lived in New Orleans and were often educated and owned property.

The state also built many levees to protect its cotton and sugar cane crops. Enslaved Africans built the first levees. Later, Irish immigrants also helped build these massive earthworks.

Because of its strong economic interest in slavery, Louisiana decided to leave the Union in 1861 after Abraham Lincoln was elected president. It joined the Confederate States of America.

However, Louisiana was quickly defeated in the Civil War. Union troops captured New Orleans on April 25, 1862. Because many people in Louisiana supported the Union, the U.S. government allowed parts of Louisiana under Federal control to act as a state within the Union.

After the Civil War, Louisiana, like much of the South, was under military rule during the Reconstruction Era. Enslaved people were freed, and black men gained the right to vote. African Americans began to make progress in education and jobs. However, many white people resisted these changes.

In the 1870s, white groups used violence to regain political power. Groups like the White League, formed in 1874, used violence to remove Republican officials and stop African Americans from voting. They even fought the police in New Orleans in 1874. By 1876, white Democrats had regained control of Louisiana.

Disenfranchisement and Segregation (1865–1929)

In the 1880s, white Democrats made it harder for black people and poor white people to vote. In 1898, a new state constitution was passed. It included rules like poll taxes (a fee to vote) and literacy tests (reading tests). These rules were designed to stop black people from voting.

The effect was huge. In 1896, there were over 130,000 black voters. By 1900, just two years after the new constitution, only 5,320 black voters were registered. By 1910, this number dropped to only 730. White Democrats then controlled the state's politics for decades. African Americans could not vote, serve on juries, or hold public office. This situation lasted until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" facilities were legal. This meant that racial segregation, like separate train cars or schools, was allowed. However, these separate facilities were almost never equal, and black people received worse services.

In the early 1900s, thousands of African Americans left Louisiana in the Great Migration. They moved north to industrial cities. They sought better jobs, better education for their children, and places where they could vote and escape violence.

Orphan Trains

Louisiana also took part in a program called the Orphan Trains. From 1854 to 1929, these trains carried orphan children from New York City to different parts of the country. Opelousas, Louisiana, was a destination for some of these trains. Over 2,000 mostly Catholic orphans were taken in by families in rural farming communities in Louisiana. Opelousas is now building an Orphan Train Museum.

Great Depression and World War II (1929–1940s)

During the Great Depression, Louisiana was led by Governor Huey Long. He was popular for his public works projects, which created thousands of jobs. He also supported programs for education and voting rights for poor white people. However, he was criticized for his strong, controlling style. Long was assassinated in 1935.

World War II helped create jobs in Louisiana. Many workers, both black and white, moved to California for jobs in the defense industry. The Second Great Migration of African Americans from Louisiana continued from the 1940s to the 1960s. They sought skilled jobs, better education, and the right to vote.

Even though Huey Long removed the poll tax, all-white primary elections continued until 1944. This meant black people still couldn't effectively vote. Schools and public places remained segregated.

The Fight for Civil Rights (1950–1970)

State lawmakers tried to find other ways to stop black people from voting. But from 1948 to 1952, black voter registration slowly increased. Civil rights groups in New Orleans worked hard to register black voters.

In the 1950s, the state created new citizenship tests for voter registration. Despite this, black voter registration continued to rise, reaching 32% by 1964. However, the percentage of black voters varied greatly across the state.

Jim Crow laws still enforced segregation against African Americans in Louisiana in the 1960s. Because of the Great Migration, the percentage of African Americans in Louisiana had dropped to 32% by 1960. They continued to face discrimination in voting and services.

The Civil Rights Movement gained national attention through the hard work of black leaders and activists. This led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These laws helped secure the constitutional right to vote for African Americans. By 1968, almost 59% of eligible African Americans in Louisiana had registered to vote. Today, black voter participation in Louisiana is very high.

Hurricane Katrina and Modern Louisiana (2005–present)

In August 2005, New Orleans and other low-lying areas of Louisiana were hit by the terrible Hurricane Katrina. The storm caused widespread damage and massive flooding, covering over 80% of New Orleans. Many people were stranded, and emergency responses were slow. Over 1500 people in New Orleans died.

After the hurricane, a new $15 billion levee system was built in New Orleans from 2006 to 2011 to protect the city from future storms. Today, Louisiana is growing in new industries like film and technology. New Orleans is now known as one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States and the "Hollywood of the South." Louisiana is also considered one of the happiest states because of its many festivals and unique customs.

Images for kids

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  Spanish Louisiana in 1800

See also

In Spanish: Historia de Luisiana para niños