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Local Area Info: Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people (French: Créoles de Louisiane, Spanish: Criollos de Luisiana), are persons descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the period of both French and Spanish rule. The term creole was originally used by French settlers to distinguish persons born in Louisiana from those born in the mother country or elsewhere. As in many other colonial societies around the world, creole was a term used to mean those who were "native-born", especially native-born Europeans such as the French and Spanish. It also came to be applied to African-descended slaves and Native Americans who were born in Louisiana. Louisiana Creoles share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French and Louisiana Creole languages[note 1] and predominant practice of Catholicism.

Starting with the native-born children of the French, then later the Spanish in Louisiana, 'Creole' came to be used to describe these Louisiana-born people of full European descent. Creole has its roots in Latin America meaning native-born. Creole was used casually as an identity in the 1700s in Louisiana. Starting in the very early 1800s in Louisiana, Creole began to take on a more political meaning and solid identity, especially for those of Latinate culture versus the newly arriving Americans from the Upper South and the North. In the early 19th century, amid the Haitian Revolution, thousands of refugees (both whites and free people of color from Saint-Domingue (affranchis or gens de couleur libres) arrived in New Orleans, often bringing their African slaves with them and essentially doubling the city's population. As more refugees were allowed in Louisiana, Haitian émigrés who had first gone to Cuba also arrived. These groups had strong influences on the city and its culture. Half of the white émigr? population of Haiti settled in Louisiana, especially in the greater New Orleans area. Later immigrants to New Orleans, such as Irish, Germans, and Italians, also married into the Creole groups. However, there was a sizable German creole group of full German descent, centering on the parishes of St. Charles and St. John the Baptist. Over time this group absorbed many French Creoles, who are Louisiana-born whites of colonial heritage. French Creoles made up the majority of white Creoles in Louisiana. Louisiana Creoles are mostly Catholic in religion. Throughout the 19th century, most Creoles spoke French and were strongly connected to French colonial culture. The sizeable Spanish Creole communities of Saint Bernard Parish and Galveztown spoke Spanish. The Malagueños of New Iberia spoke Spanish as well. The Isleños and Malagueños were Louisiana-born whites of creole heritage. (Since the mid-twentieth century, the number of Spanish-speaking Creoles has declined in favor of English speakers, and few people under 80 years old speak Spanish.) They have maintained cultural traditions from the Canary Islands, where their ancestors came from, to the present. However, just like the Spanish Creoles, native languages of all creole groups such as the French Creoles, German Creoles and Creoles of color, have declined over the years in favor of English. The different varieties of Louisiana's Creoles shaped the state's culture, particularly in the southern areas around New Orleans and the plantation districts. Louisiana is known as the Creole State.

While the sophisticated Creole society of New Orleans which centered mainly on white Creoles such as the French creoles has historically received much attention, the Cane River area in northwest Louisiana, populated chiefly by Creoles of color, also developed its own strong Creole culture. Other enclaves of Creoles culture have been located in south Louisiana: Frilot Cove, Bois Mallet, Grand Marais, Palmetto, Lawtell, Soileau and others. These communities have had a long history of cultural independence. New Orleans also has had a historical population of Creoles of color as well. Another area where many creoles can be found is within the River Parishes, St. Charles, St. John, and St. James, as many white Creoles such as German Creoles and French Creoles have settled there. Most white Creoles are found in the greater New Orleans region, a seven parish-wide creole cultural area including Orleans Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. Tammany Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish. Also, Avoyelles Parish and Evangeline Parish in Acadiana is home to a large white creole population of French descent, known as French Creoles.