French migrants

In 1790, there were fewer than one hundred thousand persons of French origin in the United States. The French came from different sources. The first group settled in the area from Detroit to New Orleans. The second groups were ethnic refuges. The third group was religious refugees.  The fourth and the fifth groups are French-speaking migrants: French Canadian and the Haitians. In Louisiana, the French developed a strong root for their culture. New Orleans, for example, was developed in 1717 and we can see a strong presence of the French identity in the city. In the late 18^th and 19^th century many French immigrated to New Orleans and by late 1860’s there were around fifteen thousands French born residents in New Orleans.       

 The group that was very crucial to Louisiana, in cultural terms, was the Acadians or as they call themselves, Cajuns. These are French-speaking immigrants who came from Acadia and now it is Nova Scotia. Acadia was a French colony and now it is part of Canada.  The Cajuns isolated themselves from their neighbors by their language and Roman Catholic religion. They also had a high growth rate. In 1815, there was 35,000 Cajuns to some 270,000 in 1880.  The Cajuns made a great job with perceiving their culture, however, at this time they are shrinking due to modernization. Louisiana State is trying to promote the Cajun culture, so it won’t disappear.