Acadiana - Geography

Geography

Despite the frequent association of Cajuns with swamplands and bayous, Acadiana consists mainly of low gentle hills in the north section and dry land prairies, with marshes and bayous in the south closer to the coast. The wetlands increase in frequency in and around the Calcasieu River, Atchafalaya Basin, and Mississippi Basin. The area also is cultivated with fields of rice and sugarcane.

Acadiana, as defined by the Louisiana legislature, refers to the area that stretches from just west of New Orleans to the Texas border along the Gulf of Mexico coast, and about 100 miles (160 km) inland to Marksville. This includes the 22 parishes of Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Charles, St. James, St. John The Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, Terrebonne, Vermilion, and West Baton Rouge. The total land area is 14,574.105 square miles (37,746.756 km²). At the 2000 census its total population was 1,352,646 residents.

Three of the parishes, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, are considered the River Parishes. Ascension Parish is occasionally included with them. Present-day St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes also made up an area formerly known as the German Coast (les côtes des Allemands) because of settlement by German immigrants of the 18th century. St. James and Ascension Parish were originally known as the Comté d'Acadie (Acadia County) because of the initial settlement of 18th century exiled Acadians. St. James Parish was known as the First Acadian Coast and Ascension Parish was known as the Second Acadian Coast. Collectively they were known as les côtes des Acadiens.