A guide to Cajun Country

Introduction    History    Food   Life  Acadian Architecture

 Cajun Music  Cajun Cowboys  Cajun Festivals   Cajun Museums     Cajun Towns

 Atchafalaya Basin     Swamp Tours     Cajun Bed and Breakfast   French and Indian War

 

Acadian News

Loading...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

          

               Cajun country                                       Louisiana

 

Officially called ' Acadiana ' Cajun country is made up of 22 parishes in Louisiana and is home to the largest French speaking population in the US . Of the 700,000 Acadians in  Louisiana about 45% speak French as a second Language .The area is named from L'Acadie ( now called Nova Scotia ) where French settlers were exiled from by the British in 1755 . The French gave the name Acadie to the maritime section of New France . The origin of the name is still debated. Some contend it is from the Micmac Indian word algatig, meaning a camp or the Micmac word akade, meaning a place where things abound. Others favor the Arcadia from classical Greece .

 

 

 

The ' capital ' of French Louisiana is the city of Lafayette. Cajun country consists of three main districts, south of Lafayette are bayous and swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin where the first Cajuns settled . Northwest of Lafayette is the Cajun prairie made up of rice fields and ranches . Southwest of Lafayette is the ' Cajun Coast ' along the Gulf of Mexico

 

 

Cajun country in the 1930s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cajuns: A People's Story of Exile and Triumph

 The deportation was a deliberate attempt to destroy a people and wipe out a distinct culture. It failed. The Acadians were too tough and too resilient. Today, there are an estimated 3 million Acadian descendants worldwide..

 

Cajun Country Guide

 

 

Atchafalaya Houseboat

 My Years in the Louisiana Swamp. In the late 1970s, Roland and Calvin Voisin made a decision to live a pleasantly isolated life: they constructed a houseboat in Louisiana's Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp, caught their own food and made money by trading and welding.

  

 

 

 

 privacy

 

 

best
tracker