Louisiana: Geography

A low country on the Gulf coastal plain and the Mississippi alluvial plain, Louisiana rises in uplands near Arkansas only to some 535 ft (163 m). The rainy coast country contains marshes and fertile delta lands; inland are rolling pine hills and prairies. The Mississippi dominates the many waterways, but there are other rivers (e.g., the Red River, the Ouachita, the Atchafalaya, and the Calcasieu) and the coast is threaded by many slow-moving bayous (e.g., the Teche, the Macon, and the Lafourche). There are lagoons such as Lake Ponchartrain, oxbow lakes made by Mississippi River cutoffs, and other lakes where the slow streams are clogged. A variety of recreational facilities makes the state an excellent vacationland; some of its lakes (e.g., Pontchartrain) have been highly developed as resort areas, and there is superb hunting and fishing throughout much of the region.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Civil Rights, Disasters, and Diversification
• Huey Long and His Legacy
• The Civil War and Its Aftermath
• Statehood
• Spanish Louisiana
• Early Louisiana
• History
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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