What does tourism do for Louisiana?     Click here for Louisiana Tourism Facts Sheet Update

Louisiana Facts

• Nickname: "Pelican State"
• State Motto: "Union, Justice and Confidence"
• Population: 4,410,796 (2009 U.S. Census estimate)
• State Capitol:
  • Located on 27 acres in Baton Rouge and was completed on March 1, 1932
  • The Louisiana State Capitol building is 450 feet in height - the tallest state capitol building in the U.S.
• State Bird: Brown Pelican
• State Flower: Magnolia
• Louisiana Welcome Centers greeted over 1 million visitors in 2009.
• Louisiana's lowest elevation is in New Orleans, at 8 feet below sea level.
• New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz music. Southwest Louisiana's "Cajun Prairie" is the indigenous home to Cajun and zydeco music.
• Cuisine that is indigenous to Louisiana includes crawfish (a tiny, freshwater shellfish resembling a miniature lobster); gumbo (a hearty soup thickened with skillet-browned oil and flour, or a "roux"); and jambalaya (a rice and meat dish similar to a Spanish paella).
• Louisiana is one of the largest fur producers in the U.S. Species harvested annually include beaver, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, mink, muskrat, nutria, opossum, raccoon, red fox and river otter.
• Avery Island's salt mine was discovered in 1862, making it the oldest in the Western Hemisphere