You are listening to What a Wonderful World, performed by Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans and during his lifetime met or possibly exceeded the definition of the word, "legend."

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After some disappointing military ventures in Haiti, Napoleon Bonaparte abandoned his hopes of an empire in the Americas. He convinced his fellow countrymen that owning, maintaining and defending the area in North America known as Louisiana, was proving to be an expensive endeavor that was not in the best interest of France, it was sold to the US for a total of 15 million dollars or approximately four cents per acre. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, 1803, Louisiana consisted of land in the current states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the US doubled in size.

After acquisition by the United States, Louisiana became the eighteenth state on April 30, 1812.

The first permanent European settlement in Louisiana was Fort Maurepas, located in present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was settled in 1699.

The oldest permanent city in Louisiana is Natchitoches, settled in 1714.

On January 26, 1861, Louisiana seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy. In April, 1862, Union forces captured Louisiana, due in large part to the Union sympathizers in the area of New Orleans and south Louisiana.

When the average person thinks of Louisiana, images of that pleasant madness called Mardi Gras come to mind. Though New Orleans can claim the most famous of these festivals, Mardi Gras is also celebrated in other cities, such as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Galveston, Texas and Mobile, Alabama, where the original Mardi Gras occurred.

Louisiana is known for its festivals, ranging from the most raucous, New Orleans Mardi Gras to the most family-oriented. There are festivals for Dolls in Deridder, Blueberries in Clinton, Crawfish in Breau Bridge and a Giant Omelette Festival in Abbeville. The International Rice Festival is held each year in Crowley during the third weekend in October.

For more information on Louisiana, check the following links:

Festivals in the Beauregard Parish area, click here.

Other, mostly family oriented festivals, click here.

For festivals listed by parish (county in most states), click here.

©2007 Wilson Jay