List of parishes in Louisiana
Encyclopedia
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
is divided into 64 parishes in the same way that 48 of the other states of the United States are divided into counties (Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
is divided into borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
s and census areas).
Forty-one parishes are governed by a council called the Police Jury
Police Jury
In the U.S. state of Louisiana, the typical governing body of the parish is called the Police Jury. Not every parish is governed by a Police Jury, but 41 of the 64 parishes use this system....
. The other twenty-three have various other forms of government, including: president-council, council-manager, parish commission, and consolidated parish/city.
Louisiana was formed from French and Spanish colonies, which were both officially Roman Catholic. Local government was based upon parishes, as the local ecclesiastical division (French: paroisse or Spanish: parroquia). Following the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
in 1803, the Territorial Legislative Council divided the Territory of Orleans (the predecessor of Louisiana state) into twelve counties. The borders of these counties were poorly defined, but they roughly coincided with the colonial parishes, and hence used the same names.
On March 31, 1807, the territorial legislature divided the state into 19 parishes without abolishing the old counties (which continued to exist until 1845).
In 1811, a constitutional convention was held to prepare for Louisiana's admission into the Union. This organized the state into seven judicial districts, each consisting of groups of parishes. In 1816, the first official map of the state used the term, as did the 1845 constitution. Since then, the official term for Louisiana's primary civil divisions has been parishes.
Listing
|}
|}
Former Parishes
- Biloxi ParishBiloxi Parish, LouisianaBiloxi Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when part of West Florida was transferred to Mississippi Territory....
formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when part of the former West Florida area was transferred to Mississippi Territory. - Carroll ParishCarroll Parish, LouisianaCarroll Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1838 from part of Ouachita Parish. It was divided in 1877 into East Carroll Parish and West Carroll Parish....
formed in 1838 from part of Ouachita Parish. In 1877, it was divided into East Carroll Parish and West Carroll Parish. - Feliciana ParishFeliciana Parish, LouisianaFeliciana Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1810 from West Florida territory. It was divided in 1824 into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish. Feliciana is a Spanish word meaning Happy Land. It originated in 1775 and was named by Spanish Governor Galvez...
formed in 1810 from West Florida territory. In 1824, it was divided into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish. - Pascagoula ParishPascagoula Parish, LouisianaPascagoula Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when part of West Florida was transferred to Mississippi Territory....
formed in 1811 from West Florida territory. It was eliminated in 1812 when part of the former West Florida area was transferred to Mississippi Territory. - Warren ParishWarren Parish, LouisianaWarren Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1811 from parts of Concordia Parish. The parish was located in parts of present day Madison and East Carroll Parishes. All of present day Madison Parish lying north of the point opposite Vicksburg, Mississippi, and all of present day East...
formed in 1811 from part of Concordia Parish, and merged into Concordia Parish and Ouachita Parish in 1814.
Parishes
The thirteen parishes defined by the Territorial Legislative Council in 1803 were:- Acadia ParishAcadia Parish, LouisianaAcadia Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Crowley. According to the 2010 census, the population of Acadia Parish is 61,773. The parish was founded from parts of St...
- Attakapas Parish
- Concordia ParishConcordia Parish, LouisianaConcordia Parish borders the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana. The parish seat is Vidalia. As of 2000, the population was 20,247. It is part of the Natchez, MS–LA Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Prehistory:...
- German Coast Parish
- Iberville ParishIberville Parish, LouisianaIberville Parish is a parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Plaquemine. The 2010 population of the parish was 33,387....
- Lafourche ParishLafourche Parish, LouisianaLafourche Parish is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, which consisted of the present parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne. The parish seat is Thibodaux...
- Natchitoches ParishNatchitoches Parish, LouisianaNatchitoches Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Natchitoches. As of 2000, the population was 39,080. This is the heart of the Cane River Louisiana Creole community...
- Opelousas Parish
- Orleans Parish
- Ouachita ParishOuachita Parish, Louisiana-National protected areas:* Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge* D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 147,250 people, 55,216 households, and 38,319 families residing in the parish. The population density was 241 people per square mile...
- Pointe Coupee ParishPointe Coupee Parish, LouisianaPointe Coupee Parish, pronounced "Pwent Koo-Pay" and , is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is New Roads. As of 2000, the population was 22,763....
- Rapides ParishRapides Parish, Louisiana-Military Installations:*Camp Beauregard *Esler Airfield *England Air Force Base *Camp Claiborne *Camp Livingston -Demographics:...
In addition, Feliciana Parish
Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Feliciana Parish is a former parish of Louisiana, formed in 1810 from West Florida territory. It was divided in 1824 into East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish. Feliciana is a Spanish word meaning Happy Land. It originated in 1775 and was named by Spanish Governor Galvez...
was established in 1810 from West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
territory.
Fictional parishes
- In the novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s Little Altars EverywhereLittle Altars EverywhereLittle Altars Everywhere chronicles the adventures of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - four eccentric women - and their children, affectionately called the Petites Ya-Yas.-Plot introduction:...
, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya SisterhoodDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya SisterhoodDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a novel written by Rebecca Wells. Is follows the novel Little Altars Everywhere. In 2005, Wells wrote Ya-Yas in Bloom and then The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder...
, and Ya-Yas in Bloom, author Rebecca WellsRebecca WellsRebecca Wells is an American author and theatre director, who wrote the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series of books, which includes Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere, and Ya-Yas in Bloom.-Background:...
created the fictional "Garnet Parish". - The movie Steel MagnoliasSteel MagnoliasSteel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
was said to take place in the fictional "Chinquapin Parish", likely a suburban parish of Shreveport, Louisiana. - Part of Walter Jon WilliamsWalter Jon WilliamsWalter Jon Williams is an American writer, primarily of science fiction.Several of Williams' novels have a distinct cyberpunk feel to them, notably Hardwired , Voice of the Whirlwind and Angel Stationn...
' novel The RiftThe Rift (novel)The Rift is a novel by author Walter Jon Williams. Published in 1999, it is a 726 page epic concerning the effects of a massive earthquake in Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana...
is set in the fictional Spottswood Parish. - The Southern Vampire MysteriesThe Southern Vampire MysteriesThe Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels, is a series of books written by bestselling author Charlaine Harris that were first published in 2001 and now serve as the source material for the HBO television series True Blood...
series of novels written by Charlaine HarrisCharlaine HarrisCharlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing mysteries for over twenty years. She was born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She now lives in southern Arkansas with her husband and three children...
and HBO's True BloodTrue BloodTrue Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
which is based on the novels take place in the fictional Northwestern Louisiana "Renard Parish". - In the movie In the Electric MistIn the Electric MistIn the Electric Mist is a 2009 Franco-American drama/mystical film based on the novel In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke...
, Deputy Jason J. Bayard was from the fictional "St. Clare Parish".