Portal:Louisiana
The Louisiana Portal![]() Louisiana (French: Louisiane [lwizjan] ⓘ; Spanish: Luisiana [lwiˈsjana]; Louisiana Creole: Lwizyàn) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25th in population, with roughly 4.6 million residents. Reflecting its French heritage, Louisiana is the only U.S. state with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are equivalent to counties, making it one of only two U.S. states not subdivided into counties (the other being Alaska and its boroughs). Baton Rouge is the state's capital, and New Orleans, a French Louisiana region, is its largest city with a population of about 383,000 people. Louisiana has a coastline with the Gulf of Mexico to the south; a large part of its eastern boundary is demarcated by the Mississippi River. Much of Louisiana's lands were formed from sediment washed down the Mississippi River, leaving enormous deltas and vast areas of coastal marsh and swamp. These contain a rich southern biota, including birds such as ibises and egrets, many species of tree frogs—such as the state-recognized American green tree frog—and fish such as sturgeon and paddlefish. More elevated areas, particularly in the north, contain a wide variety of ecosystems such as tallgrass prairie, longleaf pine forest and wet savannas; these support an exceptionally large number of plant species, including many species of terrestrial orchids and carnivorous plants. Over half the state is forested. Louisiana is situated at the confluence of the Mississippi river system and the Gulf of Mexico. Its location and biodiversity attracted various indigenous groups thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. Louisiana has eighteen Native American tribes—the most of any southern state—of which four are federally recognized and ten are state-recognized. The French claimed the territory in 1682, and it became the political, commercial, and population center of the larger colony of New France. From 1762 to 1801 Louisiana was under Spanish rule, briefly returning to French rule before being sold by Napoleon to the U.S. in 1803. It was admitted to the Union in 1812 as the 18th state. Following statehood, Louisiana saw an influx of settlers from the eastern U.S. as well as immigrants from the West Indies, Germany, and Ireland. It experienced an agricultural boom, particularly in cotton and sugarcane, which were cultivated primarily by slaves from Africa. As a slave state, Louisiana was one of the original seven members of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. (Full article...) Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Lee Arthur Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for eight teams. Serving mostly as a relief pitcher during his career, he was a dominant closer, was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves, and held the major league record for career saves from 1993 until 2006, when Trevor Hoffman passed his total of 478. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019 by the Today's Game Era Committee. A native of Jamestown in Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Smith was scouted by Buck O'Neil and was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 MLB draft. Smith was an intimidating figure on the pitcher's mound at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) and 265 pounds (120 kg) with a 95-mile-per-hour (150 km/h) fastball. In 1991, he set a National League (NL) record with 47 saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was runner-up for the league's Cy Young Award; it was the second of three times Smith led the NL in saves, and he later led the American League (AL) in saves once. When he retired, he held the major league record for career games finished (802) and was third in games pitched (1,022). He holds the Cubs' team record for career saves (180), and held the same record for the Cardinals (160) until 2006. (Full article...) Selected article -Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, was an African diasporic religion that existed in Louisiana and the broader Mississippi River valley between the 18th and early 20th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West and Central Africa, and Haitian Vodou. No central authority controlled Louisiana Voodoo, which was organized through autonomous groups. From the early 18th century, enslaved West and Central Africans—the majority of them Bambara and Bakongo—were brought to the French colony of Louisiana. There, their traditional religions syncretized with each other and with the Catholic beliefs of the French. This continued as Louisiana came under Spanish control and was then purchased by the United States in 1803. In the early 19th century, many migrants fleeing the Haitian Revolution arrived in Louisiana, bringing with them Haitian Vodou, which contributed to the formation of Louisiana Voodoo. Practiced primarily by black people, but with some white involvement, Voodoo spread up the Mississippi River to Missouri. Although the religion was never banned, its practice was restricted through laws regulating when and where black people could gather. Growing government opposition in the mid-19th century brought multiple arrests and prosecutions, while increased press attention directed greater attention to prominent Voodoo practitioners like Marie Laveau. Voodoo died out in the early 20th century, although some of its practices survived through hoodoo. (Full article...) General images -The following are images from various Louisiana-related articles on Wikipedia.
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