People
For more details on this topic, see Cajun.Cajuns are the descendants of 18th-century Acadian exiles from what are now Canada's Maritime Provinces, expelled by the British and New Englanders during the French and Indian War (see Expulsion of the Acadians). They prevail among the region's visible cultures, but not everyone who lives in Acadiana is culturally Acadian or speaks Cajun French, nor is everybody who is culturally Acadian or "Cajun" descended from the Acadian refugees.
German settlers found their way to Acadiana as early as 1721, preceding the Acadians. Since the late 20th century, political refugees from southeast Asia (Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, among others) have brought their families, cultures, and languages to the area, and have contributed significantly to its fishing industry.
Acadiana is home to several Native American tribes, including among others the Chitimacha, Tunica-Biloxi, Attakapas, and Coushatta. The region also boasts a large population of Creoles, who in Louisiana can be black, white, or mixed-race persons (Creole in its broadest sense meaning "Native to Louisiana"). (See Louisiana Creole people and Créole French.) Acadiana also is home to other ethnic groups, including Anglo-Americans, who came into the region in increasing numbers beginning notably with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
Read more about this topic: Acadiana
Famous quotes containing the word people:
“What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. It’s astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free. That happens not to be true. What happened was that some people left Europe because they couldn’t stay there any longer and had to go someplace else to make it. They were hungry, they were poor, they were convicts.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever you are? You’re chicken. You’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact. People do fall in love. People do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.””
—George Axelrod (b. 1922)
“Most people see no reason to stop arguing just because an issue has been decided.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)