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Union Addmission was 4/30/1812
Population taken from the 2000 Census is 4,468,976
Baton Rouge is the capitol city. New Orleans is the biggest city with a population of 484,674
Longitude: 89°W to 94°W
Latitude: 29°N to 33°N
Louisiana is about 380 miles long and 130 miles wide.
The geographic center of Louisiana is located in Avoyelles
Parish, 3 miles SE of Marksville.
Louisiana is bordered by Arkansas
on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Mississippi borders Louisiana
on the east and Texas borders Louisiana on the west.
Louisiana covers 51,843 square miles, making it the 31st largest
of the 50 states.
43,566 square miles of Louisiana are land areas.
Water Area 8,277 square miles of Louisiana are covered by water.
The highest point in Louisiana is Driskill Mountain at 535 feet
above sea level. The lowest point in Louisiana is 8 feet "below" sea
level in New Orleans. This is the second lowest place in the country. Only
Death Valley,
in California is lower; 282 below sea level!
The Mean Elevation
of the state of Louisiana is only 100 feet above sea level.
Major Rivers: Atchafalaya River, Mississippi River, Ouachita River, Red River,
Sabine River
Major Lakes: Calcasieu Lake, Catahoula Lake, Grand Lake, Lake
Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain, Toledo Bend Reservoir, White Lake
The highest temperature recorded in Louisiana is 114°,
Fahrenheit. This record high was recorded on August, 10, 1936 at Plain Dealing.
The lowest temperature in Louisiana, -16°, was recorded
on February 13, 1899 at Minden.
Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 93.3
degrees to a low of 36.2 degrees.
Major Industries - agriculture (rice, cotton, soybeans), salt production, oil and natural gas, fishing (especially shellfish)
Origin of the Name Louisiana - Louisiana was named by the French explorer Sieur de La Salle in 1682 to honor King Louis XIV (14) of France.
State Nickname - Sportsman's Paradise (previously - Pelican State)
State Motto - "Union, Justice, and Confidence"
State Song - "Give Me Louisiana" and "You Are My Sunshine"
State Flag - Louisiana's official flag was adopted in 1912, one hundred years after Louisiana became a state. The flag has a blue background (symbolizing truth) with a white pelican mother feeding her three chicks in a nest (the pelican is an old symbol of protection - an old legend tells of a mother pelican tearing flesh from herself to feed her young; this pelican represents the state protecting the people and their land). The ribbon reads "Union, Justice, and Confidence."
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