Why do louisiana speak french

Is there a body of Cajun literature available today? Zachary Richard , David Cheramie, and Deborah Clifton are three other notable examples of the literary movement.

The Tintamarre publishing house founded by Dana Kress at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, releases texts from the 19 th century along with works by contemporary authors. The republication of old books is a way of financing the promotion of young Louisianan writers!

Already a subscriber? Sign in. EN FR Menu. From Baton Rouge to Lafayette and from the App Store to social media, activists in Louisiana are fighting to preserve the language of their ancestors — Cajun, or Louisiana French. Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Share on pinterest. Share on whatsapp. Share on email. Cajun Classes at Louisiana State University.

The Language Is Alive and Well. Resources for those looking to learn or practice Louisiana French. Lafayette, the Great Mediator. Guy Sorman. Largely left to its own devices, it was frequently neglected by France-which had problems of its own in continental Europe. The colony's situation began to improve when a concession was granted to the Company of the West later the Company of the Indies , which sold its shareholders on the idea of investing in Louisiana.

In , the city of New Orleans was founded as a trading post and soon, European settlers, missionaries and African slaves began to arrive in the colony. In , New France was a vast territory stretching from Northern Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico, with the Appalachian Mountains serving as a natural boundary with the 13 British colonies to the east and the Great Plains marking the territory's western limit.

About 7, French immigrants NOTE 1 came to Louisiana in the 18 th century; that is one hundredth of the number of settlers living in the British colonies along the Atlantic Coast.

How could such a wild and vast land be governed by so few? In fact, the territories "discovered" and "conquered" by the Europeans had long been inhabited by Native Americans. Although the French presence was proportionately much smaller than the British one, the powerful alliances between aboriginal tribes and French troops go a long way toward explaining this odd numerical and territorial imbalance.

There are even studies showing that even before the arrival of European settlers, Native American tribes would banish people they didn't want into exile in Louisiana. In the case of the slaves, choice didn't even enter into the equation. Fate also intervened for the Acadians, whose mass arrival was the result oftheir forced deportation from Canada at the hands of the British.

The use of the place as a land of refuge - or for many exiles the "end of the line" - no doubt helped forge certain characteristics ofLouisiana's identity. With those "good times" in mind, however, I feel compelled to add a word or two about Louisiana's challenging climate. The state's hot and humid weather, swamp lands and interwoven bayous and hurricane - prone location can make it a difficult place to live. Fortunately, access to the Mississippi, one of North America's great rivers, and to the ocean via the Gulf of Mexico have made Louisiana a strategic hub for exploration and trade.

In hindsight, the second half of the 18 th century and the start of the 19 th seem like one long series of political ups and downs. This marked the end of France's colonial holdings in North America. Although Napoleon regained possession of Louisiana for a short period in , he sold it three years later to the fledgling United States of America.

Despite being shuffled from one power to another, Louisiana remained predominantly French speaking due to extensive immigration from France, Acadia and the French West Indies.

When Louisiana officially joined the union as the 18 th American state in , it was the only one with a non-English-speaking majority - the Creole and Cajun communities. This linguistic diversity can be attributed to the diverse ethnic origins of the population. According to the census, , Louisiana residents age five and over identify themselves as French speakers, including 4, French Creole speakers. The large Acadian presence in Louisiana is the product of one of the darker chapters in Canadian history - the Great Upheaval [also known as the Acadian Deportation].

In , British troops deported between 8, and 10, Acadians. Thousands eventually ended up in Louisiana, many of them arriving in 1, Acadian refugees that year alone. Genevieve and St. Louis in Missouri. The colonial population experienced long, arduous years during the embryonic years of the Louisiana Territory. From civil strife over land, politics and resources with American Indians, to crippling pandemics, floods, hurricanes, and tension with the adversarial and encroaching British colonizers, Louisiana, in effect, became a place to avoid.

Despite these uncertainties, a multitude of Francophone ethnic groups were lured to this harsh but potentially profitable land, most notably to pursue agriculture. When the territory was transferred to Spanish rule , the new government outpaced the French at offering sizeable land grants, tax breaks and commissions to those willing to develop land west and south of New Orleans and along the Mississippi River.

One of the primary goals of the Spaniards was to hispanicize the population. Bernard parishes. Many arrived against their free will as indentured servants and as slaves.

Within 70 years — a mere three to four generations — the colony became home to a melting pot of Francophone cultures, each speaking their particular varieties of what we call today the French language. Collectively, these Francophones became known as Creoles. Between and , 3, Acadian refugees knocked at the doors of the Spanish government in New Orleans, pleading for asylum.

Knowing that the success of the colony depended unequivocally on the development of land to the south and west of New Orleans, and that the Acadians were expert planters and levee engineers, resettlement was granted. The Acadians were sent to the bayous, swamps and marshlands of the southern region, where they became neighbors of Creoles who had been well established in those parts for several decades. Evidence in extant records as well as in oral tradition in South Louisiana suggest that the Acadians were not wholeheartedly welcomed by the military districts of colonial South Louisiana.

Numerous transactions in civil records point toward multiple disputes over property between Acadians, Creoles and Native Americans. However, the cultural knowledge that Acadians, Creoles and American Indians shared and borrowed from one another were crucial in the survival and development of the colony. This intermingling between Acadians, Creoles, Native Americans, African and Afro-Caribbean slaves, Spaniards, British, and waves of subsequent immigration by Irish , Germans, and Italians, among others, comprised the basis for a new hybrid subculture in South Louisiana.

Between and , South Louisiana experienced exponential economic growth with the discovery of petroleum and natural gas reserves. Railways completed in the s finally made Southwest Louisiana accessible to the rest of the nation. In efforts to overcome communication barriers and to fully Americanize South Louisiana, laws were passed that mandated English-only public schools. English-only laws and mandatory public schooling gradually improved communication among speakers of English and speakers of various dialects of Louisiana French, but the practice also resulted in cultural erosion and blurred distinctions among ethnicities.

Between and , usage of French or Creole was forbidden in virtually all aspects of life in South Louisiana.