The State
of Louisiana is still governed primarily by The Napoleanic Code,
and the only state
whose internal boundaries are known as parishes.
Many feel
the code is ancient and would like to see it changed. But there
has never been a
desire nor call for the change for parishes to be known as
counties.
The parish where I live is known as Caddo Parish named for the
Caddo Indian tribe.
At some time before A.D. 1000, and probably by
A.D. 800, the
beginnings of the prehistoric Caddo culture emerged along
the Red River in
Northwestern Louisiana. Caddo beginnings added new
customs and traits
that seem to have originated in Middle America, especially
in the Mexican Highlands
and on the upper Mexican Gulf Coast.
The Acadians were
French settlers of eastern Canada who were exiled from
their land in the
1750s. In 1764 Louisiana had long been a French colony.
But after the war
with Spain, and subsequent treaty, it was turned over to Spain.
The area of Louisiana,
now known as Acadiana, comprised about 22 parishes
The Acadians were
the largest group to settle in this area from 1765 to 1785,
about 1600 in 1785
alone. Although other nationalities were there, the Acadian
culture was dominant
in many places. When bits and pieces of these other cultures
were added to the
Acadians, a variation of the Acadian culture was created.
These people, and
this culture, became known as Cajun ...a derivation of the word Acadian.
And Deep in South
Louisiana there is a parish known as Evangeline.....
Surely Longfellow
once traveled there.....
Evangeline
Henry Wadworth Longfellow
Introductory
