Louisiana

Louisiana, a state of America on the N. of the Gulf of Mexico. It is on the right bank of the Mississippi, and is traversed by the Red, Sabine, Washita, and Pearl rivers, and has Mississippi on the E., Tennessee on the W., and Arkansas on the N. The length from north to south is 200 miles, with a breadth of 290 miles and an area of 43,000 square miles, much of which is alluvial, varied by sandy pine hills and uplands rising to a height of 470 feet. For several miles inland there are tide-covered marshes, and the lowlands generally are protected by dykes ("levees") from inundation. The uplands are in the N. and N.E., and in other parts there are bluffs, and isolated hills rising from the plain, and interspersed with watercourses called bayous. Much of the marshland has been reclaimed and sown with rice. The climate generally is moderate, and the rainfall abundant, while the vegetation is very luxuriant, and there are forests of pine, oak, beech, poplar, cypress, cotton-wood, and magnolia. Oranges, figs, and other fruits are abundant, and cotton, sugar, and maize are grown. Among the industries are rice-cleaning, sugar-refining, shingle, tank- and machinery- making, and the manufacture of tobacco, boots, and clothing. The negro element outnumbers the white, which is mostly of French and Spanish origin. The state, which belonged to France, was sold to the United States by Napoleon in 1803, and is still governed by the civil law based upon the Code Napoleon. There is a State university at Baton Rouge (the capital), and another university at New Orleans.