LOUISIA'NA, one of the United States of America, bounded on the s. by the of Mexico, and on the w. by the state of Texas. It is 290 m. from e. to w., and 200 from n. to s., having an area of 41,346 sq.m., or 26,461,440 acres. The principal rivers are the Mississippi—which lms a course of 800 m. in this state, and whose delta traverses its southern half—Red river and the Washita, and their branches. The principal towns are New Orleans (the capital) and Baton Rouge, on the Mississippi. The coast line, a portion of the shore of the gulf of Mexico, is 1256 m. in length. The surface is flat, rising nowhere more than 200 ft., and of alluvial formation. A large portion of the state is below the high-water level of the rivers, and is protected by dikes, called levies, from inundations. The land is generally of great richness, producing sugar-cane, cotton, rice, maize, tobacco, oranges, bananas, figs, peaches, etc. In the forests are several kinds of oak, hickory, locust, sassafras, mulberry, etc. In 1860 Louisiana produced
221,776 hogsheads of sugar and 13,439,772 gallons of molasses; in 1870 these figures had fallen to 80,706 and 4,585,150; in 1877 the produce of sugar was 127,7;53 hogsheads. Louisiana ranks fifth among the cotton-raising states. In 1879 the public debt was $11,724,800, funded. There are 6 colleges in Louisiana, near 1000 schools, numerous public libraries, and in 1878, 89 periodicals. Louisiana was settled by the French in 1699; in 1716 it was granted to John Law, who based upon his grant the famous :Mississippi company; ceded to Spain in 1762; re-ceded to Napoleon I. In 1800; purchased in 1803 by the United States for $15,000,000; and admitted as a state in 1812. Invaded by the British troops in 1814 under gen. Packenham, New Orleans was success fully defended by gen. Jackson. The population, mostly Creoles, was, in 1870, 710,394: in 1875, 857,039.