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The Florida Parishes (Spanish: Parroquias de Florida, French: Paroisses de Floride), on the east side of Mississippi River—an area also known as the Northshore or Northlake region—are eight parishes in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Louisiana; the Florida Parishes were part of West Florida in the 18th and early 19th centuries.[1] Unlike most of the state, this region was not part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase;[2][3] it had been under British and then Spanish control since 1763.

Florida Parishes
Region
Downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Flag
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,088,014

History

The area that became the Florida Parishes was at one time part of French Louisiana. Following the French and Indian War, however, the region—like most of the rest of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River (excluding New Orleans)—was transferred to Great Britain. This region became part of the British colonial province of West Florida.[4]

Following the American Revolutionary War, West Florida was the subject of a border dispute between the newly formed United States and Spain, which acquired West and East Florida from the British after the war. The dispute led American and British settlers in the part of West Florida west of the Pearl River to declare an independent Republic of West Florida in 1810 and elected their leader,[5] Fulwar Skipwith, as president; none of the short-lived Republic of West Florida lay within the boundaries of the modern U.S. state of Florida.

The flag of the Republic of West Florida, which is often identified with the Bonnie Blue Flag of the Civil War era, flies on many public buildings in the Florida Parishes. In 2006, the state legislature designated it the "official flag of the Republic of West Florida Historic Region."[6]

The republic was quickly annexed by the United States,[5] and the present-day Florida Parishes were incorporated into the Territory of Orleans, which joined the Union as the U.S. state of Louisiana in 1812. In 1810, four parishes were established in the region: East Baton Rouge, Feliciana, St. Helena, and St. Tammany. Later in the 19th century, five additional parishes were created as follows, with Feliciana Parish ceasing to exist: Washington Parish, 1819, from part of St. Tammany Parish; East Feliciana and West Feliciana parishes, 1824, by dividing Feliciana Parish; Livingston Parish, 1832, from part of St. Helena Parish; and Tangipahoa Parish, 1869, from parts of Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, and Washington parishes.[7]

In 1990, Louisiana's legislature formally designated this part of the state as "the Republic of West Florida Historic Region, or the Florida Parishes."[8] Since 1993, Interstate 12, which runs east and west through the Northshore region, has been officially designated as the Republic of West Florida Parkway.[9]

Geography

The Florida Parishes of Louisiana stretch from the Mississippi state line on its eastern and northern borders to the Mississippi River on its western border, and Lake Pontchartrain on its southern border. The most populated urban area is the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. St. Tammany Parish is part of the New Orleans metropolitan area. The parishes have a land area of 4,685.184 square miles (12,134.57 km²), or 10.755% of the state's total land area.

Parishes

Climate

The Florida Parishes (in common with Greater New Orleans and Acadiana) has a humid subtropical climate, prone to hurricanes. Many parts of the Florida Parishes and parts of Acadiana flooded during the 2016 floods.[10][11] During Hurricane Katrina, both regions were used as evacuation areas for residents of Greater New Orleans.[12][13]

Demographics

The population of the Florida Parishes at the 2010 census was 1,019,357 residents, or 22.49% of the state's population at that time.[14] Its largest communities are, in descending order of population (2010 U.S. census), Baton Rouge, Slidell, Central, Hammond, Shenandoah (CDP), Zachary, Baker, Bogalusa, Mandeville, Gardere (CDP), Merrydale (CDP), Denham Springs, Covington, Lacombe (CDP), and Oak Hills Place (CDP). Tabulating the 2019 census estimates, the Florida Parishes had a population of 1,067,634, making it the third largest region by population following Acadiana (1,490,449) and Greater New Orleans (1,507,017); in 2020, the tabulated population of the Florida Parishes was 1,088,014.

Race and ethnicity

The region is divided into nine planning commissions. In the first planning commission,[15] 54% of the population was White American, 43% Black or African American, 1% multiracial, and 2% Hispanic or Latino American of any race at the 2019 census estimates program. The second commission's racial and ethnic makeup was 60% White, 25% Black or African American, 5% Asian, 3% multiracial, and 6% Hispanic or Latino of any race.[16] In the third commission, 41% were White American, 49% Black or African American, 3% Asian, 1% two or more races, and 4% Hispanic or Latino American.[17] Approximately 34% of the population was White, 62% Black or African American, 1% Asian, 1% multiracial, and 2% Hispanic or Latino in the fourth commission.[18] The fifth commission had 68% White Americans, 22% Blacks and African Americans, 1% Asians, 3% multiracial Americans, and 6% Hispanic or Latino residents in the area.[19] An estimated 85% of the sixth commission were White, followed by 9% Black or African American, 1% Asian, 2% two or more race, and 4% Hispanic and Latino American residents.[20] The seventh area was 64% White, 30% Black or African American, 1% Asian, 2% multiracial, and 4% Hispanic or Latino;[21] the eighth commission's residents were 86% White, 6% Black or African American, 1% Asian, 1% multiracial, and 5% Hispanic or Latino American.[22] In the ninth commission, 70% were White, 19% Black or African American, 1% Native American or Alaska Native, 2% Asian, 2% multiracial, and 6% Hispanic or Latino.[23]

Common among South Louisiana and in contrast with the U.S. Census Bureau's publications, a substantial portion of the non-Hispanic white, Black or African American, Native American or Alaska Native, Asian and Hispanic or Latino populations identify ethnically and/or culturally as Cajun or Louisiana Creole. Nearby Acadiana and Greater New Orleans, however, have more Cajuns and Louisiana Creoles as those regions are epicenters of Acadian and multiracial Louisiana heritage.

Religion

While Greater New Orleans and Acadiana are historically and predominantly Roman Catholic,[24][25][26][27] the Florida Parishes are greatly influenced by Protestantism through British colonialism and missionary efforts, in addition to American settlement. In contrast with North and Central Louisiana, however, the Florida Parishes region is still dominated by the Roman Catholic Church as its single-largest Christian denomination. The second-largest overall denominational tradition in the region (especially Greater Baton Rouge)[28] are Baptists. Baptists form the largest overall Protestant majority within Louisiana according to the Pew Research Center's 2014 study,[29] spread among the Southern Baptist Convention—established in separation from the Northern Baptists (today the American Baptist Churches USA) over Southern white clergy and laymen's justifications of slavery—and the National Baptist Convention, USA which formed out of many black Baptist bodies leaving the Southern Baptists and white supervision.[30][31][32]

See also

• Intrastate regions
• Republic of West Florida
• Lake Pontchartrain

References

External links

• Map of Louisiana regions
• National Park Services – Florida Parishes
• Florida Parishes weather

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