Southeastern Louisiana includes Ascension, Assumption, East
Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Lafourche, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, St. Helena, Tangipahoa,
Terrebonne, Washington, West Feliciana, and West Baton Rouge parishes. The most populous city in the region is
Baton Rouge, which also serves as the state capitol. Eight of the seventeen parishes--East Baton Rouge, East
Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington, and
West Feliciana—make up an area often referred to as “the Florida parishes.” As
the name suggests, these parishes were part of the colony of West Florida. They were governed by Great Britain
until the United States annexed most of western Florida in 1810. Southeastern Louisiana also includes
three parishes—St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James—sometimes
referred to as the “German Coast” because they were settled largely by
eighteenth-century German pioneers.